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Woman appoints two daughters as co-executors of estate
A 93-year-old mother of five died on 2 December 2020.
When her husband died in 2011, his public funeral was conducted
by White Lady Funerals. There was some disagreement amongst the
children about the organisation of the funeral.
In a will dated 29 September 2004, the mother had appointed her
daughters, J and K, as joint executors of her estate.
It was their duty as executors to arrange a funeral and a burial
or cremation of their mother's body, in conformity with the
deceased's wishes if possible.
Disagreement between sisters over funeral arrangements
Although J and K agreed that their mother wished to be cremated
and did not want anything "showy", they disagreed about
what ceremonial events should accompany her cremation.
The sisters argued over this point for three weeks while their
mother's body lay in the mortuary.
However, they both wanted their mother's body cremated by
Christmas.
Supreme Court asked to intervene to resolve dispute
So, on 18 December 2020, J applied to the Supreme Court for an
order authorising her to engage White Lady Funerals to conduct a
public funeral and cremation.
K countered that their mother had not wanted a public funeral. K
instead wanted to organise a straightforward cremation without any
ceremony, followed by placing her mother's ashes in a niche
with the husband's ashes.
case a - The case for J
case b - The case for K
When my father died, my mother said to me that it was "a
really lovely service" and that she would like "something
similar with White Lady Funerals".
My sister's proposal for a bare cremation is devoid of any
ceremony and completely ignores the fact that people attending the
funeral might need to be supported in their grieving. Many people
attending a funeral gain comfort from the presence of others and
from calming music.
It is also impossible to conduct a service that is compatible
with the most basic norms of human dignity without something being
said about our mother at the cremation.
To honour my mother's express wishes and to support people
in their grieving, the court should order that we engage White Lady
Funerals to conduct a public funeral and cremation.
When our father died, J took too much control of the funeral
arrangements and this caused tension and anger among family
members. My mother did not want her funeral to be controlled in the
same way.
In fact, in September 2020, shortly before she died, my mother
signed a statutory declaration stating: "I do not wish for a
funeral service to be carried out on my passing."
The court should therefore reject J's request to engage
White Lady Funerals for a public funeral and cremation.
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