Burying an urn with ashes in Ukraine

In brief: how an urn can be buried

• An urn can go into a family grave, into a niche in a columbarium or into a new grave.
• We find out in advance what a particular cemetery allows and which documents it will ask for.
• Keep all the documents the urn crossed the border with. You will need them.
• There is usually less time pressure with an urn than with a body: you can take your time choosing the place and the day.
• We can arrange the farewell, a priest and a place in the cemetery anywhere in Ukraine. This is a separate service.
• If the urn is still abroad, we will bring it. The transport costs from €100, depending on the country.

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Columbarium

A columbarium is a wall or a separate building with niches for urns. The niche is closed with a slab bearing the name and the dates, and you can visit it just as you would a grave.

Not every cemetery has a columbarium. We will find out whether there is one near you, on what terms, and what a niche costs in your town. We do not quote niche prices here: the cemetery itself will tell you.

Documents for burying an urn

The administration of the cemetery or columbarium will tell you which papers it needs. We check this before the day of the burial, so that nobody has to look for a document on the day.

So keep all the documents the urn arrived with:

• the death certificate: a Ukrainian one issued by the consul, or a foreign one with an apostille or legalisation;
• the cremation certificate, if one was issued in the country of cremation (in Germany, for example, it is the Einäscherungsbescheinigung);
• the documents the urn crossed the border with;
• translations into Ukrainian.

A foreign death certificate is recognised in Ukraine if it carries an apostille or has been legalised, unless an international treaty provides otherwise. Foreign documents are submitted to the civil registry offices (DRACS) together with a certified translation. What else you need to arrange in Ukraine is covered in the article “Documents after a death abroad: what to arrange in Ukraine”.

What the law says:

• In Ukraine a notary certifies the accuracy of a document translation if the notary knows the languages; otherwise a translator translates and the notary certifies the translator's signature (Art. 79 of the Law on Notaries). zakon.rada.gov.ua

Is there a hurry?

There is usually not the same hurry with an urn as with a body. The family can take time to choose the place and the day of the farewell, and to wait for relatives who live far away. If the cemetery has its own rules on timing, we will find out what they are.

Questions about burying an urn