# What's The US   Law on Exhumations?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-us-law-on-exhumations/628617>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 18, 2012, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-us-law-on-exhumations/628617 "2012-07-18T11:57:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-us-law-on-exhumations/628617/1 "2012-07-18T11:57:12Z")

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Recently, it was learned that Robert Kennedy had the body of his ex-wife exhumed and moved to another part of the cemetery.  
As I understand it, exhumations are frowned upon by law-the only grounds for allowing it are:  
-crime investigations (seeing if the deceased was a murder victim)  
-moving the body because of construction (like a dam flooding the area)  
So, suppose you wanted to move grandpa to a nicer neighborhood-do you have to get a judge’s permission/court order) to dig up the deceased?

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**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-us-law-on-exhumations/628617/2 "2012-07-18T12:06:20Z")

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AFAIK, you can exhume and move a body if your family owns the plot.

The court order is only needed for a crime investigation if the family doesn’t agree to it. It may also be required when the ownership of the plot is in doubt.