Catholic funeral directives

[catholicpublish]

Your best option, if you believe your family will not carry-out your wishes, is to go to an attorney and give this authority to an individual that will. If your parish agreed, you could even give this authority to the church itself. However, I have a feeling they would want some money to do so.

 

[johnnykins]

I totally disagree. The powers of the executor come into effect immediately upon the death of the party concerned and it is the executor who will make the funeral arrangements, not the family.

You can totally disagree but you are totally wrong. There is no executor until the will is probated. The will must be probated and letters issued from the court. Maybe you’ve heard of will contests - where someone says a will proffered for probate is invalid in some way. happens all the time. Until the court appoints the executor there is none. Sorry. I suggest you consult a lawyer.

 

[thistle]

You can totally disagree but you are totally wrong. There is no executor until the will is probated. The will must be probated and letters issued from the court. Maybe you’ve heard of will contests - where someone says a will proffered for probate is invalid in some way. happens all the time. Until the court appoints the executor there is none. Sorry. I suggest you consult a lawyer.

Even if that were the case both the lawyer (who executed the will) representing the deceased and the executor (who has already documented legal agreement to be executor) (both of whom know in advance of the client being deceased that the deceased wants a Catholic funeral) at the very least could prevent the family going ahead with the funeral until probate was granted. I don’t know where you come from but in my home town in Scotland probate happens very quickly.
The family cannot rush a funeral through contrary to the deceased wishes.

 

[catsrus]

An elderly man I was in R.C.I.A. with, converted from lutheran and was Confirmed six months before he suddenly died of a heart attack.
His family, all lutherans, were extremely upset at his conversion and gave him a lutheran funeral.
I pray for him always. We of his parish knew what he wanted but he did not get it.
Leave specific instructions!

 

[johnnykins]

Even if that were the case both the lawyer (who executed the will) representing the deceased and the executor (who has already documented legal agreement to be executor) (both of whom know in advance of the client being deceased that the deceased wants a Catholic funeral) at the very least could prevent the family going ahead with the funeral until probate was granted. I don’t know where you come from but in my home town in Scotland probate happens very quickly.
The family cannot rush a funeral through contrary to the deceased wishes.

All I can say is probate may happen quickly in many jurisdictions, but if there are family issues I cannot believe it will happen quickly. To happen quickly, there must be consent from all interested parties: those named in the will and those who have a claim in intestacy. If unanimous consent cannot be had, the court will schedule a hearing with sufficient time and notice to all interested parties.

The point of notice is to give interested parties an opportunity to object to the will. This process can take weeks, months or more. The exact time frame for the initial hearing will vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but I can’t imagine it being less than a month.

Perhaps Scotland has some specific statute concerning burial, but in most, if not all, states in the USA it is the next of kin who makes funeral arrangements because of this very issue and the desire to get bodies buried. As a practical matter, very few, if any, wills are probated by consent within days of death. At death there is too much angst to deal with getting consents signed, let alone finding everybody who needs to give consent. Even with probate by consent it is usually weeks before the will is probated especially if some family member has an ax to grind.

Admittedly, few people want the expense of a will contest. But few also want to take the time for an injunction action to stop the next of kin from burying the deceased before the will is probated.

A will is simply not a terribly useful instrument to address this issue.

 

[johnnykins]

An interesting site - can’t say if it is right or wrong… (emphasis added)

scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2010/01/26131024/3

Duty of Instructing Disposal of the Body

1. In Scotland,** it is usual for the deceased person’s next of kin or nearest relative to arrange for the disposal of the body and to choose the method of disposal. **Where there are no relatives this task falls to the deceased person’s executor. This also describes the accepted common law position but there is no legislative authority for this in Scotland…
2. In England it appears to be the case that the executor or administrator is the possessor of the body for disposal. However, the Review Group accepted the arguments of Professor Niall Whitty that there are a number of practical and principled reasons why that position should not be followed in Scotland. These are mainly: (1) An executor’s functions in Scotland are administrative and financial so that it is traditional that they pay but are not responsible for the funeral arrangements. (2) Around 60% of people who die in Scotland have no confirmed executor. (3)** Executors are not usually confirmed until several weeks or even months after the funeral. **(4) In common law it is the surviving spouse or next of kin who have rights over the dead body. This would imply that they rather than the executor should have the rights to decide issues as to the nature of the funeral and mode of disposal of the body. (5) There is often no practical alternative to vesting the rights of possession and control in the nearest relative.