Home Burial in New Brunswick: Family Cemetery Rules and Permit Requirements

Private burial on family land is legally permitted in New Brunswick. It is not, however, a matter of digging a grave on your property and proceeding. The Cemetery Companies Act sets out a formal registration process—and skipping it can result in prosecution and forced exhumation. Here is what the process actually requires.

The Legal Foundation: Cemetery Companies Act

The Cemetery Companies Act is the provincial statute that governs the establishment and operation of cemeteries in New Brunswick, including private family cemeteries. Under this law and its associated regulations, you can legally establish a family burial ground on private land if you meet the regulatory requirements set by the province.

This is a meaningful distinction from many other jurisdictions, which prohibit private land burial entirely or have no workable pathway. New Brunswick has preserved the family cemetery framework, but it is a regulated process—not an informal one.

What "Establishing a Family Cemetery" Actually Requires

The formal application to establish a private family cemetery under Regulation 94-129 requires submitting a package to the provincial government that includes:

1. A certified property deed. You must demonstrate legal ownership of the land. A photocopy is insufficient—you need a certified copy showing clear title.

2. A scale plan of the property. The plan must show the proposed cemetery location in relation to the property boundaries, all adjacent roads, and all bodies of water in the vicinity. This needs to be drawn to scale—not a hand sketch.

3. Written approval from a Medical Officer of Health. The Medical Officer of Health must review the location and approve it from a public health standpoint. This approval is not automatic. The officer will assess the site relative to groundwater sources and applicable health regulations.

4. Environmental distance verification. The grave site must be located at least 75 metres from any watercourse and at least 150 metres from any drinking water intake. These are minimum distances—local health officers may impose larger setbacks depending on site-specific conditions.

5. Compliance with depth requirements. For a casket burial, the minimum depth of soil cover over the casket is 0.6 metres. For a casket-less burial (a natural or green burial), the grave depth must be at least 1.3 metres. Plots must be dimensioned to at least 0.9 by 2.9 metres.

What Happens If You Proceed Without Approval

Proceeding with a burial on private land without completing the formal family cemetery registration is a criminal matter under the Cemetery Companies Act. The consequences are not administrative fines—they include prosecution and the potential for forced exhumation of the remains. This is not a hypothetical outcome. New Brunswick courts have the authority to order exhumation when burial has been conducted in violation of the statute.

The Department of Local Government and municipalities have enforcement authority. Local zoning bylaws may impose additional restrictions beyond the provincial requirements, which is why contact with the municipal office is an essential early step.

The Practical Sequencing

Because this process involves multiple agencies and a property-specific health review, it cannot be completed in 48 to 72 hours. For families managing an active death situation, this timeline is the central challenge of a home burial. Here is the realistic sequence:

1. Contact the local municipal office immediately to confirm zoning permits the establishment of a cemetery on the specific parcel of land. Some residential and agricultural zoning categories explicitly prohibit it.

2. Contact the regional Department of Health office to connect with the Medical Officer of Health for your area. Explain that you are seeking approval for a private family cemetery under the Cemetery Companies Act.

3. Engage a licensed land surveyor if you do not already have a to-scale property plan. The regulation requires a proper scale drawing—a surveyor will need time to prepare this.

4. Prepare the certified deed and the environmental distance documentation simultaneously.

5. Submit the complete package to the province and await formal approval before any burial proceeds.

For expected deaths—where there is time to begin this process before the death occurs—the pre-planning period is the right time to start. If the death has already occurred, understand that the 72-hour rule for unembalmed remains may make a family cemetery burial impossible without embalming, which gives you more time to complete the regulatory process.

The 72-Hour Rule and How It Interacts With Permit Timing

New Brunswick law requires that unless a body is embalmed, burial or cremation must take place within 72 hours of death. If you are pursuing a home burial and the permit process takes longer than 72 hours, you have a practical problem: either proceed with embalming (which buys additional time) or the funeral home must hold the unembalmed remains and risk a health authority intervention.

For families committed to a natural, unembalmed home burial, the permit process needs to be initiated—and ideally completed—before the death occurs. This is one reason home burial planning is most practical in palliative care situations where there is advance notice.

Zoning and Municipal Layer

Provincial health approval does not override municipal zoning. If the land is within a municipality that does not permit cemetery use in that zoning category, provincial approval will not save you. Check municipal zoning first—it is the fastest and cheapest step in the process, and it determines whether the rest is worth pursuing.

Rural unincorporated areas have fewer zoning restrictions than urban parcels, which is why family cemeteries in New Brunswick are most commonly found in agricultural or rural residential settings.

After the Cemetery Is Established

Once the family cemetery is formally established under the Cemetery Companies Act, it becomes a registered site. Subsequent burials on the registered plot do not require the full original application process, but must still comply with the depth requirements and may require individual burial permits from the Registrar General through Service New Brunswick. The Burial Permit is always required—this process does not bypass the Vital Statistics requirement for a burial permit before any disposition of remains.

For the complete regulatory roadmap—including the scale drawing requirements, sample distance calculations, how to coordinate with the Medical Officer of Health, and how to obtain the burial permit that must accompany any disposition—see the New Brunswick Funeral Laws & Consumer Rights Guide.

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