If you are reading this because someone you love has died while visiting Florida, we are sorry. You are almost certainly hundreds or thousands of miles away, dealing with people you have never met, in a state whose rules you have no reason to know.
Here is what happens, in the order it happens, and what is actually being asked of you.
This is general information, not legal advice. A licensed Florida funeral director will guide you through your specific situation.
First: you do not have to fly to Florida
This is the question families ask first, and the answer is almost always no. Nearly all of this is handled by phone, email and electronic signature between a Florida funeral home and a funeral home in your hometown. Some families choose to travel for personal reasons, and that is entirely valid. But logistically, you can arrange everything from home.
Step 1: Understand who has custody right now
Where your person died determines who is holding them and who you will speak with first.
- A hospital or hospice will hold the remains in their morgue and will ask you to name a funeral home.
- A hotel, rental home, cruise terminal, beach or roadside almost certainly means law enforcement responded and the district medical examiner has taken custody.
- A nursing home or assisted living facility will notify the physician and, depending on circumstances, the medical examiner.
Florida is divided into medical examiner districts by county. If the medical examiner has jurisdiction, that office — not the hotel, not the police department — controls when and to whom your loved one can be released.
Step 2: Know whether this is a medical examiner case
Under § 406.11, Florida Statutes, the medical examiner investigates deaths that occur by accident, by criminal violence, by suicide, by poison, suddenly when in apparent good health, in suspicious or unusual circumstances, or when unattended by a practicing physician — among other categories. Florida law also directs the medical examiner to determine cause of death when a body is to be cremated, which surprises many families: even a completely expected death may involve the medical examiner’s office if cremation is planned.
For a visitor who died away from their regular doctor, medical examiner involvement is common. It is routine, it is not an accusation, and it does not mean anything is wrong.
What it does mean is time. The medical examiner’s office may need to examine, may need records from the person’s physician back home, and will not release the remains until finished. This is usually days, occasionally longer. Nothing can proceed until release is granted, and no funeral home can speed it up.
Step 3: Choose a Florida funeral home
You will almost certainly need one. Florida law does allow a family to handle final disposition themselves in some circumstances, but it is genuinely difficult from another state, and it is not what a mortuary transport company can do for you — § 497.385, Fla. Stat. bars removal services from contracting directly with the general public. In practice, nearly every out-of-state case is handled through a licensed funeral establishment.
Most families do this the easy way: call a funeral home in your hometown first, and ask them to select and coordinate with a Florida firm. Your hometown funeral home does this regularly, has relationships, knows what to ask, and will manage the handoff. It usually costs nothing extra, because they will be handling the service anyway.
If you would rather choose directly, ask any prospective Florida funeral home three questions: Are you licensed in Florida? Have you handled out-of-state transfers to my state before? Can you send me an itemized written price list before I authorize anything? Under the FTC’s Funeral Rule (16 C.F.R. Part 453), funeral homes must provide an itemized general price list on request.
Step 4: The decision that shapes everything — burial or cremation
Every subsequent step, timeline and cost follows from this one choice.
If cremation: three separate requirements govern the timeline.
First, Florida law makes it unlawful to cremate a body before 48 hours have passed since death (§ 872.03, Fla. Stat.). There are no exceptions in the statute.
Second, cremation cannot occur until a legally authorized person gives written authorization, and that person must also sign a declaration of intent stating what is to happen to the cremated remains (§ 497.607, Fla. Stat.). This is a separate document from the general authorization for arrangements, and the funeral or direct disposal establishment keeps it. (Note that § 497.607 contains its own reference to 48 hours — a window for performing the cremation after an agreed time — which is a different thing entirely from the 48-hour waiting period above. Your funeral director will keep them straight.)
Third, Florida law directs the medical examiner to determine cause of death when a body is to be cremated (§ 406.11, Fla. Stat.), so a cremation review is part of the process even after a completely expected death.
Add the death certificate, and a realistic timeline is several days to a couple of weeks. Cremated remains are then shipped to you — commonly by USPS Priority Mail Express, since the Postal Service is the only mail carrier that accepts cremated remains, and since March 2025 requires its own official Cremated Remains Box — or carried by a family member as airline carry-on, subject to that airline’s rules and a container that can be screened by X-ray.
If burial or a viewing at home: the body itself must be transported to your state. This is where the burial-transit permit, embalming or refrigeration requirements, and air or ground transport come in. We cover that process in detail in Shipping Human Remains by Air From Florida.
Step 5: The paperwork you will be asked for
Expect to be asked, over a few days, for most of the following:
- Written authorization naming you as the legally authorized person. Florida § 497.005(43) sets an order of priority: the decedent’s own written directions first; then, if the decedent died in military service, the person named on their DD Form 93; then the surviving spouse, adult children, parents, adult siblings, adult grandchildren, grandparents, and onward by degree of kinship. Where no family member is available, the statute reaches guardians, personal representatives, attorneys-in-fact and health care surrogates. It also excludes a person arrested for domestic violence against the decedent or for acts contributing to the death. If you are not the highest-priority person, the funeral home will need that person’s signature instead — this is the step that most often stalls out-of-state arrangements, so identify that person early.
- Biographical information for the death certificate: full legal name, date and place of birth, Social Security number, parents’ names including mother’s maiden name, marital status, education, occupation and industry. Much of this is genuinely hard to recall under stress — ask another family member to help.
- The certifying physician, if a doctor back home attended your loved one. Their records may be requested.
- Photo identification for the authorizing person.
- The burial-transit permit, obtained by the funeral director who first takes custody, before final disposition and within five days of death (§ 382.006, Fla. Stat.). When remains leave Florida, this permit travels with them.
Order more certified death certificates than you think you need. Banks, insurers, pension administrators, the Social Security Administration, title companies and the DMV each want an original. Ten is a common recommendation; getting extras later means another request and another fee.
Step 6: What this typically costs
Costs vary too much by circumstance for anyone to quote you honestly in an article, but here is what makes up the bill so you can read an estimate intelligently:
- Funeral home professional services and transfer of remains
- Embalming, when required for the transport method chosen
- The shipping container — an air tray or combination unit for air transport
- Airline cargo charges, generally priced by weight and route
- Ground transport at both ends: to the Florida airport and from the destination airport
- Receiving fees charged by the funeral home in your home state
- Medical examiner and permit fees
- Certified copies of the death certificate
Ask both funeral homes — Florida and hometown — for itemized written estimates, and ask specifically what is not included. Ground transport of a body across several states is sometimes competitive with air for shorter distances; ask about both.
Step 7: If your loved one had travel or credit card benefits
Before you pay out of pocket, check for repatriation of remains coverage. It appears in more places than people expect: travel insurance purchased for the trip, some premium credit cards used to book travel, some employer life and AD&D policies, some auto club memberships, and some Medicare supplement or expat plans. Coverage often has a notification requirement, so call before arrangements are finalized rather than after.
A realistic timeline
For a straightforward death with no medical examiner hold, arrangements to departure is often around three to seven days. With medical examiner involvement, add the length of their investigation, which they control. Weekends and holidays slow the permit and death certificate steps. Nobody can compress this by paying more, and any provider who says otherwise is worth a second look.
Where we fit
Bay to Bay Mortuary Transport does not arrange funerals. We are the licensed transport company that Tampa Bay funeral homes, hospitals, hospices and medical examiners call to move the deceased — from the place of death, between facilities, and to airports for shipment home. We serve Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Manatee, Sarasota and Polk counties.
If you are a family, your first call should be to a funeral home, in your hometown or here in Florida. If you have already engaged one and they need transport or airport shipping in the Tampa Bay area, they are welcome to reach our dispatch line 24 hours a day at 727-542-4321, or contact us here.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to travel to Florida if my family member died there? Almost never. Out-of-state arrangements are routinely handled by phone and email between a Florida funeral home and one in your hometown.
How long does it take to bring a body home from Florida? Commonly three to seven days when no medical examiner hold is in place. Medical examiner investigations, weekends and holidays extend that timeline.
Can I transport my family member’s body myself? Florida law does not absolutely prohibit families from handling disposition, but a properly completed burial-transit permit is required for transport (§§ 382.006 and 497.386, Fla. Stat.), the destination state has its own rules, and airlines will not accept remains from a shipper who is not enrolled in the TSA Known Shipper Program. In practice, out-of-state cases are handled through licensed funeral establishments.
Does the medical examiner have to be involved if we choose cremation? Florida law directs the medical examiner to determine cause of death when a body is to be cremated (§ 406.11, Fla. Stat.). Florida also prohibits cremation before 48 hours have passed since death (§ 872.03, Fla. Stat.).
Who is allowed to authorize the arrangements? Florida § 497.005(43) sets a priority order: the decedent’s written directions, then the person designated on a DD Form 93 if the decedent died in military service, then surviving spouse, adult children, parents, adult siblings, adult grandchildren, grandparents, and onward by degree of kinship.