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Cleaning Up the Dead

Questions about the cleanup of a dead body come up in many homeowners’ claims where an insured died alone or unexpectedly. Is it covered under an insurance policy?

By Christine G. Barlow | Updated on March 09, 2011

There’s a local murder case here in Cincinnati, Ohio that has many residents fascinated. The husband is accused of drowning the wife in the bathtub; the husband says his wife frequently fell asleep in the tub and simply drowned. The first trial was declared a mistrial due to jury misconduct; the second trial was a hung jury. The man recently completed his third trial, which resulted in a guilty verdict.

The case has received a tremendous amount of press, and the courtroom is full of spectators. While the cleanup of the body is not really an issue in the case, it comes up in many homeowners’ claims where an insured died and the body was found several days or weeks later after starting to decompose. It also can arise in situations where the insured commits suicide in a messy way — such as by gunshot — leaving remains to be cleaned up.

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