Who decides what happens after a death in Ohio

A written declaration comes first

ORC 2108.70 provides that an adult of sound mind "may execute at any time a written declaration assigning to a representative" one or more rights: the right to direct the disposition of the declarant's body after death, the right to make arrangements and purchase goods and services for the funeral, and the right to make arrangements and purchase goods and services for the burial, cremation or other final disposition. The statute states that such an assignment supersedes an assignment under ORC 2108.81.

The practical consequence is that the order of priority in the next section is a default, not a hierarchy that overrides a person's own written wishes. If you want a particular person to make these decisions, and that person is not the one the default would reach first, the declaration is the instrument Ohio provides. This is one of the few places in this area of law where a document signed years in advance settles an argument outright.

The statutory order, in order

Absent a declaration, ORC 2108.81(B) lists who holds the right, "if mentally competent adults who can be located with reasonable effort, in the order of priority stated". The order runs: the surviving spouse; the sole surviving child, or all surviving children collectively; the surviving parent or parents; the surviving siblings collectively; the grandparents; the grandchildren collectively; the lineal descendants of the grandparents; and then the person who was the decedent's guardian at the time of death.

Two further levels sit below those. Ninth is any other person willing to assume the right, including the personal representative of the estate or the licensed funeral director who has custody of the body, after attesting in writing that a good-faith effort was made to locate the people in the earlier levels. Tenth, where the person was indigent or the disposition is otherwise a public responsibility, the right falls to the public officer or employee responsible for arranging it.

Notice what the list does not do. It does not rank surviving children against each other, and it does not tell you how a group of siblings resolves a disagreement between themselves; it places the right with them collectively. Where a level is occupied by several people who cannot agree, the statute's structure is what a court would be reading, and that is a matter to take to a lawyer rather than to a funeral director.

How the right connects to a cremation

ORC 4717.22 ties the two chapters together: the person who has the right of disposition under ORC 2108.70 or 2108.81 "may serve as an authorizing agent for the cremation of a dead human body". A crematory in Ohio cannot proceed without a completed cremation authorisation form, and the contents of that form are set by statute at ORC 4717.24, so it is not a document a provider drafts freely.

A person can also authorise their own cremation before death. ORC 4717.21 provides for an antemortem cremation authorisation form, executed by the person themselves. Where one exists, the question of who may authorise the cremation has already been answered by the person whose body it is.

What this page does not settle

This is general information drawn from the current text of the Ohio Revised Code, read on 6 August 2026, and it is not legal advice. It describes a rule, not any business on this site, and a funeral home has no power to change the order set out above.

If you are trying to resolve a dispute, or you are not certain whether a declaration exists or is valid, take the question to a lawyer. For questions about how a licensed Ohio funeral home or crematory is required to behave, the regulator is the Ohio Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors, 77 South High Street, 16th Floor, Columbus, OH 43215-6108, (614) 466-4252.