In Britain, who owns my body after I die?

Question

Related to organ donation but more of a general legal question, what is the status of my body as property when I die?

Answer 1

Nobody wants that bloody thing!

Answer 2

Probably your family/next of kin...they are the ones who would have to arrange your funeral unless you wanted to end up in a pauper's grave.

Answer 3

The Queen.

Answer 4

your next of kin have the right to decide your funeral arrangements unless you left instructions in your will

Answer 5

Satan

Answer 6

Its not really owned by anyone.

Is your question about organ donation?

Answer 7

Your next of kin own your body.  It is technically part of your estate, but next  of kin decide what happens to it until such time as an executor appears to claim that privilege.

Answer 8

English Common Law would probably say that your immediate family members ultimately own your body after death.  Black's Law Dictionary defines "Next of kin" as "the persons nearest of kindred to the decedent, that is, those who are most nearly related to him [or her] by blood; but it is sometimes construed to mean only those who are entitled to take under the statute of distributions, and sometimes to include other persons" (543).  In other words, whoever would inherit your estate without a will if you died intestate (or without filling out a witnessed donor card) would be the person who would own your body and ultimately be responsible for burying or cremating it properly or else donating organ parts or the body itself to medical science.

However, Arizona (in the United States) has explicitly detailed just who the next of kin is:

1) Surviving spouse

2) Individual designated as having power of attorney (usually, but not always a family member)

3) Parents of a minor

4) Children of the dead person

5) The dead person's parent

6) The dead person's adult siblings . . .

Of course, this may change should Big Brother decide that medical science is first in line.

Answer 9

Mother Earth.

Answer 10

your next of kin has the right to decide what happens with your body.

With regard to organ donation - even fi you have a donor card, you next of kin has the authority to overule this if thy choose to have your corpse disposed of intact. However, you might have seen in the news over the weekend that the government is considering changing the process so that we all become organ donors unless we actively choose to opt out.