Can you bury grandma in your back yard?

Attorney Tom Olsen: Chrissy, last week on the morning news show I did a segment, and the segment was titled Can You Bury Your Dog and Grandma in the Backyard? I had no idea, but there's literally Florida statutes covering those topics, and you want to know about the answer to those questions, you go right to the source and you read the Florida statutes. It gave me an opportunity to research those things and-

Attorney Chris Merrill: I love it.

Tom: -talk about it and came to a conclusion about what the law is. Would you like to know?

Chris: I would.

Tom: Okay.

Chris: Please tell me.

Tom: Well, first of all, as far as burying your dog in your backyard, the Florida statutes say yes, you can bury your pet in your backyard. It's got to be at least 2-feet deep. You can bury your cat or your dog or your pet in your backyard, no problem. You cannot bury your pet on any public lands or of course on anybody else's land. It's your land only, no problem.

Chris: Wow.

Tom: Then as it turns out that Florida statutes, there's nothing within the Florida statutes that would prohibit you from burying Grandma in your backyard.

Chris: I'm shocked about that.

Tom: Yes. Now, it does say check your local rules and ordinances, so I can't-

Chris: It would apply maybe per local-

Tom: You may want to check with the-

Chris: Yes,

Tom: Definitely want to check with local rules and ordinances before you bury Grandma in your backyard.

Chris: Okay.

Tom: One thing it pointed out, which I think is really quite appropriate, is that if you were to bury Grandma in your backyard, I think that'd be the kind of thing where you would have to disclose it to any future buyers of your property, and they probably would not appreciate it.

Chris: Agreed. I did not realize, I thought the opposite. I thought that there were specific statutes, ordinances for local communities that you could not bury Grandma in your backyard, so I'm actually surprised that there is even that option.

Tom: Well, let's be clear about it. There's nothing within the Florida statutes that prohibit you from doing it, but you must check with your local rules and ordinances, whether in a city limits, whether in a county limits, and check in with them and see what they have to say.

Chris: Okay. Thank you. Thank you for telling me.

Tom: I thought that was very interesting, and we made a video out of it of course. People are very interested to hear this. It's just fun, and the morning show people had a good time, fun time talking about

Chris: I think it's great, and I'm sure a lot of people, a lot of listeners out there would appreciate knowing because, again, it's something that you don't hear all the time but think about it. Everybody has a grandma and everybody has pets.

Tom: Exactly.