Guides: exhumation · relocation · repatriation
What families should know before an exhumation.
Rest periods, permits, costs, the mortuary passport, the zinc-lined coffin: the questions we are asked most often, explained plainly and set against Swiss law. Written from daily practice in the Canton of Bern and across all twenty-six cantons.
The grave rest period
Twenty years, thirty, longer? Why there is no Swiss rest period, what changes between a simple grave and a family lease, and how one phone call gets you the figure that actually governs your grave.
Applying for an exhumation
Who is entitled to apply, what the municipality actually examines, which documents to attach, and why most files stall on a signature rather than on the substance.
What an exhumation costs
The cost blocks of an exhumation, from the municipal fee to the grave opening, from the zinc-lined coffin to freight. Why relocating an urn is far cheaper, and what drives the bill upwards.
Exhumation after twenty years
Why a late exhumation meets fewer administrative obstacles than an early one, what is still found in the grave after two decades, and what that means in practice for the family.
The family grave
What separates a family lease from a row grave, how term and renewal work, who decides within the family, and what bringing relatives together actually involves.
Giving up a grave lease
Who may cancel a lease, what happens to the grave and the headstone, which costs remain – and why the question asked is often “how do we give it up” when the real need is “how do we move it”.
Consent for opening a grave
Who belongs to the circle of entitled relatives, what form the consent has to take, what to do when someone cannot be reached or objects – and how the opening itself runs on the day.
Grave clearance
How municipalities notify families, which deadlines apply, what happens to the remains and the headstone – and which options stay open until the work is actually carried out.
Mortuary passport and zinc coffin
What a mortuary passport is, when it is issued, why the original coffin will not do, what consular legalisation involves, and the sequence that saves weeks.
Relocating a coffin
The authorisations required, the role of the receiving municipality, how the day of the work runs, and the mistakes that lengthen the timeline unnecessarily.
Relocating an urn
Why an urn raises far fewer constraints than a coffin, which authorisations still apply, what changes for a transfer abroad – and the mistake families make in good faith.
Adipocere: when a body has not decomposed
Why some graves are almost unchanged after decades, what adipocere means in practice when a grave is opened, and why relocation or repatriation remains possible.
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Describe the situation to us: the grave, the municipality and what you would like to happen. We check the requirements free of charge and tell you honestly what is feasible and what is not. Costs only start afterwards.