In future the close friends of a deceased person will be allowed to take their ashes home with them after cremation. The rule change that will be applicable to the 5 provinces that make up the Flemish Region and will be applied if the deceased doesn’t have any close family.
Home News
In future a good friend will be able to take a deceased person’s ashes after cremation
Published:
The Flemish Interior Affairs Minister Bart Somers (liberal) told VRT News that “This is currently not possible, but new legislation should take into account social evolutions”.
"We have noticed that some deceased people don’t have any close family members. In this case it should be possible that a close friend that has arranged the funeral can take the ashes with them”.
In addition, to this procedure for donating your body to medical science will become easier. You will simply have to include this wish in your last will and testament.
More Flemings being cremated
A growing number of Flemings are choosing to be cremated after they die. In 2020 around three-quarters (74%) of people in our region opted for cremation. This is up from 57% 10 years earlier. After a cremation, children, spouses or other close family members often want to take some of the deceased’s ashes home with them to, for example, have set into a ring, a key ring or a piece of jewellery.
This is currently not an option for close friends. However, this is set to change. The Flemish Interior Affairs Minister Bart Somers told VRT News that “We have noticed that the deceased sometimes doesn’t have any close family. This is why we’re making it possible for a good friend that has helped arrange the funeral to take some of the ashes home with them”.
This will only be allowed if the deceased has no surviving parents, grandparents, children of grandchildren.
"Increasingly people want to give a more personal touch to their final farewell. These changes address the question of, for example, the question of single people that have no family. The law should take into account new developments in society, forms of cohabitation and also take into account the wishes of the deceased’s relatives”.
Easier to donate your body to science
In a last will and testament those that wish to can say what they want to happen to their body after their death. You can state that you wish to be buried, cremated or have your body donated to medical science. You can also state in which municipality you wish to have your final resting place.
Those stating that they wish to donate their body to medical science also must fill in a separate form at their local Town Hall. In Flanders at least, this obligation is now being scrapped. Each year around 400 people in Flanders donate their bodies to medical science.