Our expert burial disputes solicitors can advise you on your legal rights and help resolve conflicts over funeral arrangements, ashes or burial locations with care and professionalism.
No win, no fee. There will be no financial risk to you – even if your claim is not successful.
Losing a loved one is difficult enough without disagreements about their funeral and the arrangements for burial or cremation of their remains. Unfortunately, burial disputes are common, especially where there are complex family relationships, no will or no clear instructions from the deceased in their will.
Our expert burial disputes solicitors can advise you on your legal rights and help resolve conflicts over funeral arrangements, ashes or burial locations with care and professionalism.
A frequent source of dispute is who owns the ashes after cremation. Historically ashes were not considered property although arguably now that position has changed. Control rests with the person who applied for the cremation – usually the executor named in the will or, if there is no will then the closest family member of the deceased.
Disputes about the ownership of ashes often arise when:
If no agreement is reached, the courts can decide, usually prioritising the deceased’s wishes and fairness among family members.
The right to arrange a funeral usually lies with the executor of the will. If no will exists, it passes to the nearest relative. Conflicts about funeral arrangements are common when families disagree over:
Such disputes can delay the funeral at an already stressful and deeply upsetting time.Our solicitors can step in quickly to mediate or, if necessary, apply to court
Understanding burial options can help when disputes arise. Common types include:
Where families cannot agree on the type of burial or interment, our funeral dispute solicitors can advise on the legal position.
Modern families often include second marriages, blended families, estranged relatives, or stepchildren, which can complicate decisions about funerals and burials. Common conflicts include:
Our inheritance solicitors understand the sensitivities of these disputes and will help find a fair and lawful resolution.
The executor of the will has the legal right. Without a will, the nearest relative usually decides.
If mediation fails, the court can decide. Judges usually prioritise the deceased’s wishes if they are known.
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The dispute arose as to whether the deceased’s ashes should be interred with her deceased child in the same plot as she had set out on her funeral plan and which our client wished to honour, or whether she should be interred with her late partner who she had a difficult relationship with for many years (which some of the deceased’s other children wanted).
In this situation there was no will and the deceased died intestate so each of her children had equal rights. One of our client’s siblings got there first and instructed the funeral directors and therefore ultimately gained control of the ashes. We prepared injunctive proceedings to block the interment with her late partner when the sibling in control of the ashes backed down and agreed to our client taking control of the ashes and interring these as per the deceased’s wishes with her late child..
We acted for the deceased’s former husband, her former step-children and her late daughter’s partner.
The deceased had passed away and had left instructions in her will to be buried in the same plot as her daughter.The executor of her estate and her surviving children wished to honour those wishes. Our clients and their side of the family were horrified by this and did not want anyone else buried in the same plot –Ultimately an agreement was reached whereby the deceased was buried in a row close to her daughter and which allowed our clients to visit their daughter/half-sisters and partner’s grave without being reminded of the mother.
There is a time limit for bringing Contentious Probate claims. They normally have to be issued at court within 6 months from the date of the grant of probate. You can search online to see whether or not a grant has been issued.
Depending on how complex the deceased’s estate is, a grant of probate could be issued only a few weeks after the deceased’s death so this may not leave a lot of time for someone to make a claim. Therefore you should act quickly and get in touch with legal professionals.
It is possible to bring a claim after the 6 months has expired, but you will need permission from the court to do so. The court looks at the full range of factors, such as the reasons for the delay in making the claim, and what prejudice would be suffered to the estate and any other beneficiary. There is no guarantee that the court would grant permission even if the delay is only a few weeks. Similarly, just because a claim may be brought many years after the grant, it doesn’t mean that permission would be refused.
It will be up to the court to decide, and again depends on the individual facts of the case.
