NSW Wills - Who Keeps Cremated Ashes of Parents?

[Mark Davis]

My parents are both deceased and died 16 months of each other. Both my parents were cremated and the ashes are in separate containers. The containers are at my sisters place in her cubboard. They have been there now for 2.5 years.

I have asked for the ashes as I wish to bury them in a grave site at Rookwood Cemetery. My brother who is the executor of the wills and my sisters want to scatter the ashes. How can I stop the scattering and take possession of the ashes.

Thank you

 

[winston wolf]

Without a court order(unlikely) the executors have the final say on the deceased remains.

 

[Mark Davis]

Without a court order(unlikely) the executors have the final say on the deceased remains.

Thank you Winston

 

[jessiesgirl]

I've read that the person who signed the paperwork for the cremation is the actual owner of the ashes.

 

[Mark Davis]

I've read that the person who signed the paperwork for the Cremation is the actual owner of the ashes.

Thank you, I'm sure my brother (executor) would have done that. I find it frustrating that the ashes are in a drawer, but anyways

 

[SamanthaJay]

Mark, maybe you could come to an agreement with your siblings. The best thing about cremation is that the ashes can be distributed to more than one place. Would your siblings be willing to give you possession of perhaps half of your parents' ashes so that you can have them buried at the cemetery?

I took a portion of my father's ashes overseas to the country he was born in and had them buried with his parents and sister in their family grave. The rest, my family scattered in a wetlands area attached to a cemetery in an area where he lived in for part of his adult life and had a sentimental attachment to.

It did take us over a year to decide where we wanted the rest of his ashes to go and he pretty much sat in the box in my bedroom until that happened.

 

[Mark Davis]

Mark, maybe you could come to an agreement with your siblings. The best thing about cremation is that the ashes can be distributed to more than one place. Would your siblings be willing to give you possession of perhaps half of your parents' ashes so that you can have them buried at the cemetery?

I took a portion of my father's ashes overseas to the country he was born in and had them buried with his parents and sister in their family grave. The rest, my family scattered in a wetlands area attached to a cemetery in an area where he lived in for part of his adult life and had a sentimental attachment to.

It did take us over a year to decide where we wanted the rest of his ashes to go and he pretty much sat in the box in my bedroom until that happened.

Thanks Samantha , I did think about that but trying to get the family to split the ashes into separate containers was adding another layer of complexity, when people really want to do nothing. That's why I just wanted to take the containers whole. Last I heard they were still thinking about things. Something tells me they will be thinking for a lot longer...