Who is responsible for arranging the funeral?
My dad died and left my brother as executor. My brother doesn't want to have a funeral for my dad, even though the rest of the family wants to have one. Can we just go ahead and organize the funeral anyways?
Legal Topic:
Who is responsible for arranging the funeral? - Helen Low
Where the deceased left a will, the executor named in the will is responsible for arranging the funeral and paying the funeral expenses from the deceased’s estate. BC law sets out a priority order if the executor is unwilling to give instructions (see section 5 of the Cremation, Interment and Funeral Services Act). The right to give instructions passes to the person who is next in priority. After the executor, next in priority is the spouse of the deceased, followed by the adult children of the deceased (in age descending order), the adult grandchildren, a parent of the deceased, an adult sibling, an adult nephew or niece, and so on.
Reviewed May 2017
See our page on making the funeral arrangements for more information on the issues involved.