- in South America
- with readers working within the Property industries
It is well established that there are no rights of ownership over a body following death.
Although there is no general right of ownership over a dead body, there is a duty at common law to arrange for the proper disposal of the body. That duty falls on the personal representatives of the deceased.
Very sadly, however, disputes over funerary arrangements can and do arise.
One can easily imagine, for example, a scenario where the deceased has children from a first marriage and then gets divorced and remarries and starts a new family. On death, the children from the first marriage may have a particular view on the funerary arrangements that are different to those of the children from the later marriage.
How Colman Coyle can assist
Adam Palmer at Colman Coyle was very recently instructed to represent a parent in a dispute about what should happen to the body of their child arising out of exceptionally tragic circumstances.
Having failed to reach an agreement over the funerary arrangements for their late son and discovering that his partner had extracted a grant of Letters of Administration, the father applied for an ex parte injunction to prevent the mother from taking steps to dispose of their late son's body.
The injunction was granted and a trial was heard on an expedited basis.
The nature of the dispute was that the parents had separated and the issue the Court had to grapple with was (a) whether the body should be buried as the father wished or cremated as the mother wished and; (b) if the body was cremated, whether the ashes should be interred and kept in a single place or, as the mother wished, be scattered.
This was a case where the parties had sincerely held opposing views on a matter of fundamental importance to them.
There was no easy way to reconcile the two positions, and after weighing the evidence, the Court decided that the body was to be cremated and the ashes scattered.
Sadly, there are never any real winners in these types of disputes and that was particularly so here. Everybody involved in this case lost a family member in terrible circumstances who was dearly loved.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
