- no location -
Select your location for location specific information:
Gravestone; application for a permit
Municipalities can stipulate an approval requirement for gravestones in their cemetery statutes.
Responsible for you
For contact details of the responsible authoritiy and local valid information select under "Select location" a location.
Procedure details
Description
As part of their right to local self-government, municipalities can stipulate in their cemetery statutes that approval is required for the erection of gravestones. There is no legal obligation to do so. This means that the existing requirements for the design of gravestones in a municipality can be checked before they are erected, particularly in the interests of stability and respect for reverence.
Requirements
Whether a permit is required and under what conditions it is granted is determined by the respective cemetery statutes. You can obtain further information from your local authority.
Fees
The costs for approval are set out in the respective municipal cost statutes.
Legal bases
Appeal
Administrative court action
Related issues
-
Funeral facilities; construction and maintenance
The municipalities are obliged to establish and maintain the necessary burial facilities, in particular cemeteries and mortuaries.
-
Cemetery, mortuary; adoption of rules of useThe municipalities must provide the necessary burial facilities, in particular cemeteries and mortuaries. This does not apply if there is no public need for them. This is particularly the case if a church cemetery sufficiently covers the need.
-
Cemetery and burial fees; paymentThe municipalities charge fees for the use of their burial facilities on the basis of cemetery fee statutes.
-
Municipal cemetery; application for authorization for commercial activityAs part of its right to local self-administration, each municipality can regulate whether or which permits or notifications are required for commercial activities at the cemetery in the user statutes for its cemetery.
-
Grave space; application for a right of useWhen allocating a grave site in a municipal cemetery, the municipality grants the citizen a temporary right of use subject to a fee.
-
Mortuary passport; application for issue
A corpse passport is required for repatriations within Germany or abroad if the country to which the body is to be repatriated or a country touched during the journey requires a corpse passport.
Status: 09.01.2026
Editorially responsible for prodecure description: Bayerisches Staatsministerium des Innern, für Sport und Integration
Contains machine translated content.
Show the original content