Is It Okay to Distribute Cremated Remains Among Family Members?

Cremation is an increasingly popular way to memorialize a deceased loved one. After that loved one is cremated, there is invariably a question of what can be done with the remains. One option is to divide the ashes between family members, allowing the spouse and surviving children and/or siblings a chance to honor their loved one in a way that is meaningful to them.

There are different ways in which cremated remains can be divided between family members, and one of the easiest is to have the remains split into different keepsakes. There are increasingly numerous options for placing cremated remains into jewelry, photo frames, pieces of décor, even bullets! You can speak with your funeral director about the different keepsakes available, and allow individual family members to choose the one that offers the most personal significance.

Instead of a keepsake, cremated remains can also be placed into urns. This way, family members can either scatter the ashes in different places or simply memorialize them in a columbarium. If all of the family members are local, then allocating these urns is fairly easy. If you need to mail cremated remains, that’s certainly an option, but there are some legal restrictions on how you ship them. Most of these restrictions are fairly common-sense—for example, you must be able to completely close the urn with an airtight seal—but you can speak with your funeral director about the specifics.

Cremation has many benefits, and one of the most significant ones is that it allows individual family members to each have their own chance to pay respects, in a way that resonates with them. Ask your funeral director to walk you through all the possibilities and to guide you through the logistics.