EXHUMATION
For the exhumation and reinterment of a body or cremated remains, it will be necessary to obtain a Faculty from the Chancellor of the Diocese, or an Exhumation Licence from the Department for Constitutional Affairs, or both. If the remains are to be exhumed from consecrated ground and reinterred in consecrated ground, only a Faculty is required. If the remains are to be exhumed from unconsecrated ground and reinterred in unconsecrated ground, only a Home Office Licence is necessary. If one of the places is consecrated and the other is not consecrated, both a Faculty and an Exhumation Licence will be required. Enquiries about obtaining an Exhumation Licence should be addressed to The Burials Team, Coroners Division, Department for Constitutional Affairs, Ground Floor, 4 Abbey Orchard Street, London SW1P 2HT (Tel: 0207 035 5530/31 Email: coroners@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk).
The Church regards burial as final, and so a Faculty will not normally be granted to authorise an exhumation, except in exceptional circumstances, for example, where a body has accidentally been buried in a grave already reserved for someone else, or in any other special circumstances which the Chancellor of the Diocese considers justify a departure from the general rule.
A special form of Faculty Petition is used for an application for exhumation, and attention is drawn to the notes attached to it.