530 removably fastens the lid 310 320 to the side panel 120 wherein said latch assembly is snap fit together another advantage of such configuration is that no tools are required to attach the latch assembly to the side panel 120 or lid 310 320 in one embodiment the male latch 510 is secured to the lid with one or more screws fig1 is a top perspective view of the casket in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention like traditional caskets the present casket provides an open casket viewing option fig1 is a simplified perspective view of illustrating the packing configuration of the kit for making a modular casket in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention as shown in fig1 the various parts of the casket can be efficiently packaged as a kit in compact form for shipment or storage until partial or full assembly is desired in one embodiment the lid sections 310 can be adjacent one another and alternatively nested the side panels 120 can be can be grouped together between the lid section 310 and a base pan 230 nested within the base pan 230 can be one or more nested base sections not shown adjacent end panels 140 can be oriented perpendicular to the side panels 120 or lid 310 in one embodiment not shown the kit comprises two end panels two sidewalls and a base section it should be pointed out that the exemplary packing configuration depicted in fig1 is for purposes of illustration and not for purposes of limitation any compact or efficient shipping configuration can be used that minimizes the storage volume required by a disassembled casket in one embodiment the stored or packaged volume of the casket is approximately 50 less than.