A Relative Contesting a Deceased Relatives Will

[hurstg01]

I am an executor of a relatives Will. One of the directions in the will is for the deceased's ashes to be joined with the ashes of the relatives (now deceased) marital partner.

My problem is - another relative who has hold of the marital partners ashes wont give them up for them to be buried together. The Marital Partner didnt leave a will...

Can anyone offer any ideas as to what i can do? I have just found this out and the funeral is taking place tomorrow morning....(family eh?!!)

Where do i stand legally, as i have to carry out the wishes of the Will? Can i penalise the relative if they are a beneficiary of the will by withholding some of the estate until the ashes are handed over?

Please help

thanks

Edited by hurstg01 on Wednesday 11th October 20:41

[Balmoral Green]

Light a fire and put the ashes in a tub, neither party need be any the wiser. Harmony.

[hurstg01]

Balmoral Green said:

Light a fire and put the ashes in a tub, neither party need be any the wiser. Harmony.

Cute answer but not really all that helpful

[hendry]

My condolences, first of all.

Although the funeral is tomorrow, there is I am asuming no stipulation on how soon the ashes should be together, so I would not panic. If you make the wishes known to all then peer pressure may see the other set handed over.

However, it may be that there is some family secret that means this may never happen. In which case, one has to respect that and concede that you did what you could. I don't think your deceased relative would expect you to also fix their rifts.

[hurstg01]

hendry said:

My condolences, first of all.

Although the funeral is tomorrow, there is I am asuming no stipulation on how soon the ashes should be together, so I would not panic. If you make the wishes known to all then peer pressure may see the other set handed over.

However, it may be that there is some family secret that means this may never happen. In which case, one has to respect that and concede that you did what you could. I don't think your deceased relative would expect you to also fix their rifts.

Thats what i was thinking, or at least along those lines........

[Breda_Walton]

Might the keeper of the other ashes be prepared to give over half of the ashes? This way both parties have their wishes met. Might be worth a try?

[Parrot of Doom]

Pour the ashes through the relative's front door. That relative will never get rid of all the ash, it'll float around the house in microscopic quantities.

Job done.

[hurstg01]

Breda_Walton said:

Might the keeper of the other ashes be prepared to give over half of the ashes? This way both parties have their wishes met. Might be worth a try?

seems a fair compromise, although this relative originally agreed to bury the ashes side by side (the will states joined together, so we thought that might be do-able...) but has now reneged on her offer..........

[mattley]

hurstg01 said:

One of the directions in the will is for the deceased's ashes to be joined with the ashes of the relatives (now deceased) marital partner.

My problem is - another relative who has hold of the marital partners ashes wont give them up for them to be buried together.

why should the other party need to hand the ashes over for buriel in order for the wish to be fufilled.

If they wish to keep the ashes can you not take the ashes over there so they can be joined, and kept with the current keeper?