No person shall dispose of a dead body or fetal remains until a local registrar or the State Registrar of Vital Statistics issues a permit for disposal. The local registrar or the State Registrar of Vital Statistics shall be authorized to issue the permit and may issue blank presigned permits to the funeral director only. The funeral director or the person in charge of interment or removal shall, within ninety-six (96) hours after the death or fetal death or within ninety-six (96) hours after the finding of a dead body or fetal remains, file with the local registrar a certificate of death or fetal death.

The sexton or other person in charge of any premises in which bodies are interred or cremated shall not allow the interment or cremation of any dead body or fetal remains unless a permit issued under this section is presented to the sexton. The sexton or other person in charge of the premises shall endorse upon each permit presented to the sexton or other person the date of interment or cremation, over the sexton's or other person's signature, and shall return the permit so endorsed to the local registrar of the sexton's or other person's district or the State Registrar of Vital Statistics within ten days from the date of interment or cremation.