In the event of a death, the person obliged under funeral law (in particular relatives, legal guardians and custodians, insofar as the care of the person of the deceased was part of his or her duties during his or her lifetime, in hospitals the senior physician, in homes their management) must immediately notify a physician who must carry out the post-mortem examination. The physician shall issue a death certificate, which shall be immediately forwarded to the registry office by the person who arranged the post-mortem examination.
Every corpse must be buried by interment in a grave (burial in the ground) or by cremation in a cremation facility and burial of the ashes, sealed in a solid urn, in a grave (cremation) or by cremation in a cremation facility and burial of the urn from a ship on the high seas (burial at sea).
As a rule, burial is possible at the earliest 48 hours after the occurrence of death. Furthermore, burial in the ground or cremation must take place no later than eight days after the determination of death, not counting Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. The urn containing the ashes must be interred no later than three months after cremation. The municipality may, under certain conditions, permit earlier or later burial upon request.
As a rule, bodies and ashes of deceased persons must be buried in cemeteries (cemetery obligation). In exceptional cases, permission for burial outside a cemetery may be applied for from the district administrative authority in whose area the intended burial place is located.
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