By Law, What Is Required And Forbidden In An Obituary?

By Amy E. Feldman

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- By law, what is required and forbidden in an obituary?

The obituary for North Dakota native Douglas Leglur, after his death last month, got right to the point.  Along with his picture, it contained only two words, Doug Died.  I guess that about sums it up.  He'd written it himself and his kid's decided to honor his wishes, but, are there legal guidelines about what can adn can't be said in an obituary?  Very few.

There are two different types of obituaries, one written by the newspaper staff to notify people of the death of a significant member of the community and those written and paid for by the family, as both a tribute and a notice of funeral arrangements.  There are no laws that requires the notice of a person's death be printed in any newspaper and decisions about whether and how to allow obituaries is left op to the newspaper's policy.  There've been notice of death that talk about a person's bad qualities where the family has been left embittered, but because defamation laws do not protect the dead, the newspaper can print it without fear of a law suit or choose not to.  In response to Mr. Leglur's brief obituary, the paper apparently elegantly stated, OK.