[WSBAPT] Fight over remains

[Diane J. Kiepe]

I'm going to throw this out there and see if anything sticks.  I have a case of first impression for both myself and a Funeral Home Director.  Decedent mom did not have written directions as to the disposition of her remains.  Under RCW 68.50.160, the surviving children must have a majority to sign for directive.  As you might guess, there are 4 surviving children and it's 2 vs 2.  I am petitioning the court (currently I'm going under TEDRA - 11.96A because I found nothing else that fits pers se) to allow the daughter who lived with the mother virtually her whole life and cared for her mother  the last 5 years to give direction with the support of her one other sister and some grandchildren to the exclusion of the other 2 children.  The statute provides for no tie-breaker method and as I read past the list to see if we could frog leap the children due to tie, there are no surviving parties in the categories.

I feel like, although I've not seen this in 17 years and the funeral direction says he hasn't seen it in his tenure longer then that, it can't be the first time to happen.  Found a case or two but mostly related to who has jurisdiction to hear the claim or standing to bring a claim for tortious interference with body.

Curious if any of you have some thoughts/directions.  Also thanks (again) in advance.

Diane J. Kiepe

Diane J. Kiepe
Douglas Eden
717 W. Sprague Ave.
Suite 1500
Spokane, WA  99201
djkiepe at depdslaw.com<mailto:djkiepe at depdslaw.com>
509-455-5300

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