While if you need assistance in a criminal lawyers matter, you can still contact Baker Love Lawyers, this article instead discusses the rights and obligations of an executor when a willmaker has passed away.
The Role of the Executor
When a person prepares a last will and testament the willmaker shall appoint an executor. The executor is the person (or persons) trusted to properly attend to the administration of the estate and the affairs of the willmaker when they pass away.
The obligations of the executor may include collecting in the assets and attending to the liabilities of the deceased, obtaining a grant of Probate from the Supreme Court of NSW, but before all of that, the executor is the person who is entitled to take possession of the body of the deceased and is responsible for its proper disposal.
It is the executor, and not the willmaker who has rights in relation to the disposal of the body, however this does not mean that the willmaker does not have the right to express their wishes in relation to a funeral, or whether it be to be buried or cremated, and the particulars of what to do with the ashes.
The Importance of Recording the Wishes of the Willmaker
The directions as to the disposal of their body as outlined in a person’s last will and testament are important in the event that there is a dispute between those left behind in relation to the disposal of the body
In addition to any moral obligation to honour the wishes of the deceased persons, it is a breach of regulation 77 of the Public Health Regulation 2012 (NSW) for a person to cremate the body of a dead person, if the person is aware that the proposed cremation would be contrary to a written direction left by the dead person in their will or in a letter or memorandum of wishes. Further, a person must not cremate the body of a dead person otherwise than in accordance with any written direction left by the dead person about the particular method of cremation that was or was not to be used.
It is therefore important that an executor attempt to determine whether the deceased left behind a will outlining their wishes promptly on the passing of the willmaker.
If you would like assistance in preparing a will or acting as an executor of a deceased estate contact Baker Love Lawyers.
