[Sixofus]

My Mother(81yrs) passed away 4 yrs ago and her Ashes stayed at home with my Father and I, now my Father(91yrs) has passed away 8 weeks ago, I have his Ashes too. My siblings now want to take the ashes to a cemetery, but my Father asked me to keep his Ashes with Mothers together in his home for as long as I live, I promied him that I would as he has left me the house and all its belongings to me for as long as I live, and then everything can be divided between the living siblings that are left. My siblings are also contesting my Fahers Will and at the moment I am having trouble dealing with my Fathers Death and living in limbo land not knowing the outcome. I have lived with my Father for 5 yrs looked after both parents with very little to no help from the other siblings( 3 sisters 2 brothers) only 1 brother has supported me all the way through and is also the executor of the Will. I gave up 2 jobs and sold my home to look after my parents, my siblings asked me to move down to look after our parents and now they have turned on me. My Fathers Will hadn't even been officially read when 4 siblings already went to see a solicitor to contest the Will, not 1 of them came over to see how I was coping or ask my brother the executor about what was happening about my Fahers Will, we only found out that they had all been to see a solitor recently. My main concern is that I don't want to give up my parents Ashes and keep my promise to my Father. Can they make me give up the Ashes? I also paid for my Fathers Funeral on my own and finacially I am struggling, but will fight to the end, my parents will be looking down on us all and I am sure they would both be in tears to see what's happening. Does anyone have any good advic Please?

[ebaines]

Sixofus - what jurisdiction is this in? Since you use the term "solicitor" I'm guessing the UK - correct?

I can't speak to UK law, but in general if your father's will says nothing about what to do with his remains it would be up to the executor of his estate to determine what happens to the ashes. Also, you shouldn't have had to pay the funeral expenses yourself - the executor should have paid for it out of the estate's assets.

If your siblings are to contest the will they're going to have to show that it is either illegally drawn up of your father was mentally incompetent when he signed it. The executor will be responsible for defending the estate's interest - which means fighting any suit brought by the other siblings.