Can You Bury Family Members in Your Backyard in Texas?

If you want to be cheap about burying family members or pets, can you legally bury them in the backyard in Texas?

You have to check with your city or county to make sure THEY allow it, but the state of Texas does allow you to bury family members or pets in your backyard.

Family members can be buried in your yard if you have to land to accommodate them but they must be buried at least 6 feet deep which is why most people just let the cemetery take care of the family members.

Pets on the other hand only have to be buried 3 feet deep, so it is easier to bury pets in the backyard than family members.

The only bad thing about burying your pet in the backyard is your other pets or wild animals can dig them up which would be disastrous especially if you have young children, that's why most places want you to bury them at least 3 feet deep because most animals cannot detect the smell of decomposition at 3 feet or more.

So if you just bury them in a shallow hole, Rover could dig up Fido's half-decomposed body and lay it on the ground next to the hole which could be very traumatic for children.

The best bet for burying pets is to bury them in a biodegradable bag or box, and some cities and counties require that you bury them that way, but to be safe and keep any trauma from the kids or yourself, just make sure they are three feet deep and everything should be alright.

As for family members, if you are rich enough and have a huge amount of land and want to keep the family together, that is something you definitely have to check with city and county governments to make sure it is allowed and what permits you would need which should not be hard as long as you own the land.

Burying your family members on your own land is best if you know the land will remain in the family for generations to come, otherwise, new tenants will have to look at you and your family members' headstones for the duration that they live there, so make sure Junior and his kids are alright with living there well after you are gone and passing it down to their kids for generations.