Exhumations

In distressing circumstances, the remains of a child (A) aged 8 had been buried in the consecrated part of a local authority cemetery. The family were unaware of the fact of consecration or its consequences. Informed by the local authority that their exclusive right of burial would soon end, the family applied for a faculty to exhume the remains, for them to be cremated and to be kept at home until they were scattered after the death of those who had known A. The Chancellor held that there were exceptional circumstances justifying exhumation as proposed. He also permitted the exhumation of the ashes of the boy’s uncle; these had been buried in the same grave as A because of the family relationship. The Chancellor disagreed with the view of the Legal Advisory Commission that the scattering of ashes was necessarily contrary to Canon Law, taking the view that this depended on whether it was reverent or not. He also explained that the fact that an exclusive right of burial had come to an end did not end the protection of the grave by the Consistory Court, although it might be the case that any memorial could be removed.

The petitioner wished to exhume the body of her still-born son who was buried in an oak coffin in the cemetery in 1991 and to have the remains cremated and the ashes placed in a designated rose garden area at Landican Cemetery, where the remains of her own mother and brother had been placed. The petitioner's former partner opposed the exhumation, claiming to be the father of the child and the owner of rights of burial in the grave, whereas the petitioner claimed that he was not the father, and that she had conceived the child as the result of a relationship with another man during a brief separation of the petitioner and her former partner. There were allegations on both sides of interference with items placed on the grave. The Chancellor determined that exhumation was unnecessary and encouraged the parties, with the help of the cemetery manager, to reach an agreement about the future care of the grave.

The body of a man had been found by Manx fishermen 10 nautical miles north of Ramsey, Isle of Man. At the time it was impossible to identify the body and it was buried in Lonan Cemetery. Ten years later it was possible to match retained genetic material from the deceased with that of members of the family of a man from Wicklow in Ireland, who had last been seen in December 2012. The deceased's partner applied for a faculty for exhumation from Lonan Cemetery and reinterment in a cemetery in County Wicklow next to the graves of members of the deceased's family. The Vicar General and Chancellor of the Diocese of Sodor and Man considered that there were exceptional circumstances which justified the grant of a faculty.

Two of the petitioners applied for a faculty for exhumation, in order to establish by DNA testing whether the person it was proposed to be exhumed was their father. The objectors were the brother and sister of the deceased. An Irish Court was holding an award made under the Residential Institutions Redress Act 2002, the deceased having been abused in a residential institution when he was young. Establishing whether the two petitioners were the children of the deceased would determine whether they were entitled to the award. The Chancellor determined that this was an exceptional case where it was appropriate to grant a faculty.

The remains of a child who died at three days old were buried in Loughborough Cemetery. The family subsequently moved to Australia and sought a faculty to allow the exhumation of the baby's remains, so that they might be cremated and placed in a niche in a cemetery in Australia where the parents had reserved niches for their own remains. Re Blagdon Cemetery [2002] considered. The Chancellor was unable to find sufficient reason to justify an exception to the general principle of permanence in respect of Christian burial. Petition dismissed.

The petitioners, father and daughter, applied for a faculty to exhume the remains of the father's late wife's cremated remains from a cremated remains plot in the cemetery, for reinterment in a full grave plot in the same cemetery, which had already been purchased by the father and two of his daughters. The father had realised after the interment that he would not be able to be buried with his wife's remains, as he was a Roman Catholic and he believed that the Roman Catholic Church required its members to have full body burial. The Chancellor decided to grant a faculty. The determing factors were: (1) there had not been a long period between the interment and the husband's realisation of the frustration of his desire to be buried with his wife; (2) the husband had had to make a quick decision about a plot for his wife at a traumatic time when he was unable clearly to think through the consequences; and (3) the remains of his wife would be reinterred in a family grave, thus releasing a cremation plot.

The Petitioner applied for leave to appeal against the decision of the Chancellor earlier in the year not to allow exhumation. Application dismissed.

The petitioner, aged 88 years, wished to have the remains of his late wife exhumed from Southern Cemetery, Manchester, and reinterred in Mill Lane Cemetery, near Cheadle, about six miles away, closer to where the petitioner now lived, as he was finding it increasingly difficult to visit her grave. The Chancellor found no exceptional reasons which would justify him in authorising the exhumation and reinterment

Faculty refused for exhumation from the cemetery at Battle and reinterment in the cemetery at Petworth, near the petitioner's home, the Chancellor finding no special reason to allow exhumation within the principles laid down by the Court of Arches in Re Blagdon.

The family of Michael Niles (the deceased') moved from the UK to live in the USA when the deceased was young. For a reason not explained in the judgment, the deceased was deported several years ago to the UK. There were no members of the family in the UK. The deceased died in January 2022, and his burial was delayed for two and a half months, whilst efforts were made to trace his relatives. His body was buried in Middleton Cemetery in April 2022. The family in the USA subsequently heard about the deceased's death, and his daughter applied for a faculty to have the deceased's body exhumed and cremated, and for the ashes to be sent for burial in the USA. The Chancellor considered that there were exceptional circumstances to justify the grant of a faculty. If the family had been aware of the deceased's death at the time, they would have had his body cremated in the UK and the ashes sent to the USA for burial, believing that this would have been the deceased's wish.