Corpse
The Austrian legislator has not made any regulation on how the corpse should be legally classified.
According to prevailing opinion, the corpse is to be qualified neither as a thing nor as a person. Instead, the corpse is regarded as a “continued personality” as long as it is still clearly identifiable as the body of a specific deceased person. The personality rights of the deceased thus continue beyond their death.
This special legal classification makes it clear that the corpse is no longer considered a living person, but still has a respectful and protected status.
Form of Burial
Legal Loophole in Austria
Funeral Arrangement
Funeral Contract with a Funeral Company
Presumed Will of the Deceased
Will of the Next of Kin
Municipality
Social burial
Types of Burial
Cemetery Obligation
Private Burial Site
Burial in the Ground
Burial in a Vault
Cremation
Natural Burial
Grave Goods
Burial Together with Pets
Relocation
The general sense of morality demands that the peace of a deceased person should not be disturbed as far as possible. An exhumation, i.e. the digging up of a body that has already been buried, for the purpose of reburial in another grave, is therefore only permitted under special circumstances.
A recognized reason for a relocation is the wish of the surviving spouse to be buried later in the same grave as the deceased partner. However, this does not apply if the spouses have lived separately or have been in open hostility and legal disputes.
