497.601 Direct disposition; duties.

FLORIDA STATUTES AND CODES

497.601 Direct disposition; duties.

(1) Those individuals licensed as direct disposers may perform only those functions set forth below:

(a) Remove human remains from the place of death and store human remains in registered direct disposal establishments.

(b) Secure pertinent information from the decedent’s next of kin in order to complete the death certificate and to file for the necessary permits for direct disposition.

(c) Obtain the necessary permits for direct disposition and arrange for obituaries and death notices to be placed in newspapers; provided, however, that the name of the direct disposal establishment may not appear in any death notice or obituary if any funeral service, memorial service, or graveside service is to take place and such service is mentioned in the death notice or obituary.

(d) Refrigerate human remains prior to direct disposition and transport human remains to a direct disposal establishment for direct disposition.

(e) Contract with a removal service or refrigeration facility to provide such services or facilities to a direct disposal establishment.

(2) Direct disposers or funeral directors functioning as direct disposers may not, in their capacity as direct disposers, sell, conduct, or arrange for burials, funeral services, memorial services, visitations, or viewings; hold themselves out to the public as funeral directors; or use any name, title, or advertisement that may tend to connote that they are funeral directors. These prohibitions shall apply regardless of the fact that such individuals may be licensed as funeral directors.

(3) Provided that direct disposers limit their activities to those functions set forth in subsection (1), those activities shall not be deemed to constitute funeral directing or embalming or the functions performed by a funeral director or embalmer as otherwise set forth in this chapter.

History. s. 15, ch. 93-399; s. 67, ch. 94-119; s. 126, ch. 2004-301.

Note. Former s. 470.0165.