ISSUANCE
The Burial Permits Office issues the official disposition, removal or transportation permit for any person who dies within City of Boston. The City of Boston includes Beacon Hill, Back Bay, North End, South End, West End, South Boston, East Boston, Allston, Brighton, Fenway, Mission Hill, Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, Mattapan, Dorchester, West Roxbury, Roslindale, Hyde Park, and Readville.
Burial Permits are issued to Funeral Personnel, after presenting a completed and correct certificate of death.
Burial Permits are issued to record the final disposition of a deceased’s remains. Burial Permits are issued for the burial, cremation, or transportation of a person’s remains. Final disposition may be within the state of Massachusetts, USA, or any other place throughout the world. Permits are also issued for the exhumation and re-interment of any person’s remains within the City of Boston, to another location, in or out of the city, or out of the country.
REMOVAL OF REMAINS OUT OF THE COUNTRY
For more detailed information please speak to the Burial Permit Staff regarding removal out of the country.
BURIAL PERMIT
The Burial Permit consists of a three part form. Section one is the stub to be retained by the Burial Permit Office, section two is the official disposition and transportation permit and section three is to be returned immediately to the Burial Permit Office, properly endorsed by the superintendent, cemetery or crematory and returned to the Burial Permit Office. Death Certificates can be faxed ahead to the Burial Permits Office to (617) 534-2627 and the permit can be prepared before your arrival.
BURIAL PERMIT FEES
The fee for the permit is $31.00 paid in check or money order, this office cannot accept cash. Prepaid vouchers can be purchased at the Burial Permit Office, please check with the staff.
LOCATION AND PARKING
There are designated parking spaces (For Funeral Directors) for your convenience at 35 Northampton Square on Northampton Street outside the parking garage. It is important that you do not park in the small lot next to the garage or the CVS Parking lot as your vehicle will be towed.
DEATH CERTIFICATES
The Burial Permits Office issues a registration number to the death certificate and then submits the death certificates to the City of Boston Registry of Death to be officially registered with the city and then forwarded to the Massachusetts Registry of Vital Records and Statistics. You may obtain a certified copy of death at the Boston City Hall Registry of Death.
The Burial Permits Office is not able to provide certified copies of death, and cannot release any information concerning any person’s death certificate.
CERTIFIED DEATH CERTIFICATES
For a certified copy of a death certificate, persons should contact Judy A. McCarthy, Boston City Hall, Registry of Death, Room 213, Boston, MA. 02201. Phone: (617) 635-4175 Fax: (617) 635-3775. Please visit their site.
VITAL RECORDS AND STATISTICS
Please note that the staff of the Burial Permits Office cannot provide any information for genealogical research. Please contact the office below for genealogical research.
Vital Records and Statistics, and Death Certificate Information for the state you may contact Massachusetts Registry of Vital Records and Statistics, 150 Mount Vernon St., 1st Fl. Dorchester, MA 02125-3105 Phone: (617) 740-2600 Please visit their site for their policies and hours of operation.