The High Court has ruled on a case in which a deceased man's son and daughter were unable to agree on the funeral arrangements that should be made for him.
The man had been born in India but had lived in England for over 70 years. He passed away in December 2024. His will, made in 1993, left the residue of his estate to his son and daughter and appointed them as executors, but did not give any directions as to funeral arrangements. The son wished his father's body to be cremated and his ashes scattered in England, while the daughter said that his body should be taken to India and buried there. The son sought an order that the body be cremated and the ashes scattered in accordance with Hindu funeral rites. The son's position was supported by his wife, as well as his father's three brothers.
The son claimed that, after his mother's funeral, his father had expressed gratitude to him for arranging it in accordance with her wishes and their religious beliefs, and had said he wanted the same Hindu funeral rites to be carried out when he died, including cremation. However, the daughter maintained that, in the last months of his life, he had often stated that he wished to die in India and had told her that if he died in England he wanted to be buried in India.
The Court noted that the right of the deceased's personal representatives to possession of the body for the purposes of the funeral is subject to the power of the courts under Section 116 of the Senior Courts Act 1981, and that the powers of the executors are also subject to the inherent jurisdiction of the courts. The Court considered a number of previous decisions in similar cases.
The Court observed that the view of most of the family was that the deceased's body should be cremated and the ashes scattered in England. The daughter was the only family member who took a different view. The son's and the daughter's evidence as to the man's wishes were diametrically opposed. The son highlighted the implausibility of his having wanted to be buried, given that he was a devout Hindu, while the daughter pointed to his independent personality and the fact that burial is not unknown in India. The Court found that neither of them had proven that the man's wishes were what they said they were, and it was therefore unable to ascertain those wishes.
The Court had no doubt that England was the place the man was most closely connected with at the time of his death. He had left India when he was 23 and had made the rest of his long life in England, where his children had been born and grown up, and where he and his wife had lived until their respective deaths. In the Court's judgment, the right decision was to direct that he be cremated and his ashes scattered in England, in accordance with the appropriate Hindu rites.