Burial Permits
Last updated 11/5/2025.
Steps to request a burial permit from the Office of Vital Records and Statistics (OVRS):
By law, a Permit for Disposition of Human Remains (Burial Permit) must be issued for each death at the time of registration for burial or cremation.
-
If cremated remains are divided for placement at more than one location, a burial permit must be issued for each location.
A burial permit is also needed when:
- Shipping the remains out of the state or country.
- Scattering cremains on land or at sea.
- Deeming the remains for scientific use.
- Shipping the remains into the State of California.
- Disinterment (exhuming, or digging up, a deceased person’s body from its burial site) is required to move the remains to another location other than a new location within the same cemetery.
- Remains are temporarily stored.
1. OVRS is open Monday through Friday 9:00 am – 5:00 pm.
We are located at:
5530
Overland Avenue, Suite 170,
San
Diego, CA 92123
2. Have these ready:
- The decedent’s (person who died):
- Full name,
- Date of birth,
- Date of death,
- City of Death,
- County (if death occurred in California) or State (if death occurred outside California), and
- An original death certificate or an original transit/burial permit.
3. Complete a payment of $12.00 per permit. Pay by:
- Cash,
- Debit card, credit card, tap to pay, or
- Check or money order, payable to County of San Diego Public
Health Services.
1. Fill out the 2 applications in black ink:
- The Certified Copy of Death Record, and
- The Application and Permit for Disposition of Human Remains.
- It is
important that the permit is filled out correctly.
- Cross-outs, type-overs, white outs, erasures, etc. are unacceptable.
- See a sample on how to complete a burial permit.
2. Provide a payment of $12.00 per copy with a completed check or money order, payable to County of San Diego.
- Cash is NOT accepted.
3. Mail the completed applications for the Certified Copy of Death Record and Permit for Disposition of Human Remains, the Original Death Certificate or Original Transit/Burial Permit, and payment to:
County of San Diego Vital Records
5530
Overland Avenue, Suite 170
San Diego, CA 92123
If your request does not include these items, it will be rejected as incomplete and returned to you without being processed.
Call the Office of Vital Records at (619) 692-5733, or send an email, for more information.
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