Florida Statute 406.53
“Unclaimed remains of indigent person; exemption from notice to the anatomical board”
What it means
Counties field most reports of unclaimed indigent remains, and Florida Statute 406.53 spares them the anatomical-board notice in four situations, notwithstanding §406.50(1). No notice is required if the remains are decomposed, mutilated by wounds, or autopsied, or if a legally authorized person or a relative by blood or marriage claims them for final disposition — at that person's expense, or under the county's own procedures when the claimant is also indigent.
The other two: the deceased was a veteran (or a veteran's spouse or dependent child) eligible for national-cemetery burial, or a licensed funeral director certifies that the anatomical board was already notified and accepted or declined the remains.
- Applies to a board of county commissioners or its designated county department receiving a report of an indigent person's unclaimed remains.
- No notice needed for remains that are decomposed, mutilated by wounds, or autopsied.
- No notice needed when a legally authorized person or relative by blood or marriage claims the remains — at personal expense, or under county procedures if the claimant is also indigent.
- No notice needed for a veteran (or a veteran's spouse or dependent child) eligible for burial in a national cemetery.
- No notice needed when a licensed funeral director certifies the board was notified and either accepted or declined the remains.
How it plays out
This is housekeeping law, but it decides who makes the call on an indigent burial. When a family wants to claim a relative and cannot pay, the claim exemption matters most: the claim can proceed under the county's own indigent-disposition procedures rather than at the family's expense, which keeps the remains out of the anatomical-board pipeline entirely. We point families to their county's indigent burial program before anyone assumes donation to science is the default.
Related sections
Questions people ask
