Coroners can’t charge for cremation certificates, AG opinion says
BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Coroners across Louisiana should not be charging funeral homes or families for the permit that is required to cremate a body, a new opinion issued by the Louisiana Attorney General’s office says.
It has been a common practice for some coroner’s offices to charge for such permits. In Livingston Parish, for example, the fee is $100 per permit. In East Baton Rouge Parish, the coroner’s office charges $50 for a cremation permit when the case has been handled by the coroner’s office or $100 in cases that did not require involvement by the coroner’s office.
In some parishes, including West Baton Rouge, the coroner does not presently charge a fee for cremation permits.
The opinion, issued Monday, June 5, 2023, says state law does “does not authorize the coroner to seek compensation for the issuance of a cremation permit.”
In the same opinion, the AG’s office says it interprets state law to say only a coroner, deputy coroner, or assistant coroner are authorized by law to issue cremation permits.
Chief Deputy Coroner Yancy Guerin of the West Baton Rouge Parish Coroner’s Office requested the AG opinion on both matters.
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