Wake Law Student Jannine Huby organized this episode. She explains how cremation fireworks work and introduces Jason Diemer and Clay Adams of Greenlawn Funeral Home in Springfield, Missouri, the only U.S. funeral home that offers customized cremation fireworks memorials.

In this episode, Tanya and Barbara Kemmis, the Executive Director of the Cremation Association of North America, discuss research conducted by Wake Forest University School of Law on consumer preferences in death care. The preliminary results of this research were recently published in The Cremationist magazine.

In this episode, Professor Tanya Marsh discusses the legal complexities of multi-jurisdictional death with her father, Professor Bill Marsh. They explain that ensuring one's wishes are followed after death involves navigating three types of state laws: the default "right of sepulcher" (which grants control to next of kin), appointing a "designated agent" to supplant that default list, and using "personal preference statutes" to specify desired outcomes, such as the method and location of disposition. A significant complication is that for funeral planning, the controlling law is that of the state where the remains are physically located, not the decedent's state of residence. Because states have different requirements (e.g., some require two witnesses, others a notary) and no universal "super form" exists, they advise creating a single declaration that is signed, witnessed by two unrelated adults, and notarized to maximize enforceability across states. The conversation also covers the domestic and international transport of remains, and how to navigate TSA, airline requirements, and the requirements of the receiving country.

In this episode, Tanya Marsh and Susan Hubbard discuss the law of cryonics and the five states which have either enacted a statute or considered a case regarding the legality of the process.

I really enjoyed being a part of this episode of the Legal Deac podcast — hope you enjoy it too! Death in the US can be one of the most complex aspects of modern life, and caring for the dead takes many forms that are regulated by some of the most complicated laws on the books. In this episode, we explore the history, nuances, and quirks of funeral and cemetery law in the US and talk to students and professors at Wake Forest Law who helped legalize human composting as a new method of disposition.

The death care system in the New York City metropolitan area is overwhelmed. In this episode, we speak with Phil Tassi, President of the New York State Association of Cemeteries (NYSAC), and David Fleming, legislative director of NYSAC, to better understand the challenges facing cemeteries and crematories in the state.

Recorded on April 18, 2020, Brooklyn funeral director Amy Cunningham explains how death care is being handled in New York City a month into the COVID-19 pandemic.

Estate planning should involve more than simply creating the appropriate documents to address who will receive your property after your death. Modern estate planning also includes some planning for a period of time prior to death, particularly if circumstances arise that a person cannot manage their own property or cannot make health care decisions for themselves.  The vast majority of people will die after a period of some incapacity. If that period is short, then there are few problems. But because that period can be months or even years, many people want to make arrangements with respect to their property and health care in case the need arises.

There are three basic documents for planning for the period of incapacity that Jonah Bamel, Greg Volk and Tanya Marsh discuss in this episode: (1) a health care proxy or health care power of attorney; (2) living will or advance directive; and (3) durable power of attorney.

Visit www.deathetseq.com for links to additional resources.

On this week’s episode, I am happy to share with you a conversation that I recently had with Barbara Kemmis, the Executive Director of the Cremation Association of North America, or CANA. Cremation is on the rise in the United States. As Barbara will explain, after it was legalized in a handful of states in the 1870s, it took about a century for the cremation rate to hit 5% in this country. For the past several years, cremation has been a more popular option in the United States than burial, which represents a seismic shift in American disposition practices. Barbara and I will discuss the rising cremation rate, some of the reasons that people have been embracing cremation, and research conducted by CANA regarding correlations between demographic information and the cremation rate. I also ask Barbara about the environmental impacts of cremation and she shares some of the research that CANA has done in that area as well.

To learn more:

Industry Statistics: https://www.cremationassociation.org/page/IndustryStatistics

Roaming/Rooted Blogpost Link: https://www.cremationassociation.org/blogpost/776820/280926/Enhanced-Statistics-Enhance-Your-Business-Success

Link to all posts about stats: https://www.cremationassociation.org/blogpost/776820/The-Cremation-Logs?tag=statistics

Jodi Hildebran Lee and Jordan Crosby Lee are the Couldn't Be Happiers. Check them out at www.couldbehappiers.com. On this episode, they play murder ballads The Long Black Veil and a feminist re-imagining of Pretty Polly, plus their original song Jackson Square (which may or may not be about reincarnation).

The Protestant Reformation of the early 16th century changed countless aspects of everyday life for every kind of person across Europe. One of the things most profoundly affected was the popular conception of death. On this episode, I will be speaking with third year Wake Forest University Law School student Jordan Artrip about how the theology of the Reformation caused a paradigm shift for how death and the dead were viewed by society, as well as the practical effects of that shift on life and religious practice.

Topics addressed in episode:

• For everyday people living during Christendom, one’s view of death and the dead was inextricably linked to the teaching of whichever church was dominant in their particular time and region. How did the theology of the Medieval Church shape peoples’ view of death and the dead on the eve of the Reformation?
• How did this belief in purgatory and the efficacy of intercessional prayer manifest itself in the practices of the Church regarding the dead?
• How did changes brought by the Reformation impact the level of memorialization that we see today in churches?
• How did changes in theology impact local burial practices?
• How did practices change in areas of Europe where the Catholic Church remained dominant?
• What impact did the Reformation and related changes in burial practices in Christian Europe have on the development of the law and social norms in the United States?