What Happens If My Family Or The Funeral Home Buries My Deceased Relative In the Wrong Place?

Burial or cremation of the dead is one of the activities that separates humans from other species. The archaeological remains of even the oldest known human settlements show evidence of well-developed funeral rituals, and each society seems internally consistent in its burial practices. Practices of burial and cremation, known in estate law today as “final disposition of remains,” vary from one culture to another, but a feature they share is that the body’s final send off is meant to be permanent. Ancient tombs were heavily fortified to prevent grave robbery. Today, bodies are buried six feet underground so that animals cannot dig them up. And what could be more irreversible than cremation, returning the body to ashes from whence it came? Mass disasters, where so many people die in a short span of time that there is not enough time or enough room to bury them, enter historical memory as the stuff of nightmares. Therefore, the law only allows the disinterment of human remains in exceptional cases. To find out more about how to ensure that your family and the court will abide by your wishes for the final disposition of your remains, contact an Orlando estate planning lawyer.

Legal Remedies for Wrongful Disposition of Remains

It is your decision where you want your body buried or your ashes kept or scattered, but by nature, you will not be around to see your decision implemented. If you feel strongly about the matter, you should put a provision in your will about final disposition of remains.

Sometimes final disposition of remains doesn’t go according to plan. The cemetery might mistakenly bury the body in the wrong plot. There might be two competing versions of the will, and the probate court might have to decide whether to follow the version that says to bury the decedent in Maryland next to her mother or the one that says to bury her in Florida next to her husband.

You can only disinter a body if a court order authorizes this. If you file a wrongful burial lawsuit, it is unlikely that the court will order the cemetery to dig up the body and bury it somewhere else. The most compelling reason for disinterment is if the court needs to do DNA testing on the body for a pending legal case, but this scenario is rare. The law prefers to leave human remains, once they have been buried, to go the way of all flesh. More likely, the court will order the party that orchestrated the wrongful burial to compensate you by paying monetary damages. This may include reimbursement of financial losses you suffered because of the wrongful burial, plus noneconomic damages for emotional distress.

Contact Gierach and Gierach About Wrongful Burial

An estate planning lawyer can help you prevent wrongful disposition of remains or file a wrongful burial claim.  Contact Gierach and Gierach, P.A. in Orlando, Florida to discuss your case.

Source:

leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0400-0499/0497/Sections/0497.384.html#:~:text=(1)%20The%20disinterment%20and%20reinterment,made%20in%20the%20same%20cemetery.