If your father died, you didn't find out until a day later, a 1/2 uncle had him cremated. Do I have rights?

Question

I never knew my father, It took me 15yrs to find him, a day after he died. Here I found my Grandma and my 1/2 uncle called me to tell me the news. Here he didn't tell me where or how he died, said some funeral home contacted him. And they were going to call him at the end of the week. I did research on my own and found the funeral home. My 1/2 uncle called the morgue the same day I talked to him and said his mom wanted him cremated ASAP. The morgue asked if he had spouse or kids, he said NO. He was told in the state of Oregon, he can't be cremated until the next of kin is notified. Here he knew about me, my dad always talked about me, he knew my address and phone number and still he lied to the morgue. Do I have any rights? I found out my uncles and Grandma didn't know my father died until a few months later. The only person that knew was my 1/2 uncle. And that stupid uncle promised me he would send me all his stuff, he never did. My uncles told me to try and sue my 1/2 uncle.

Answer 1

Sounds complicated.

Since you are just knowing your father, you will more than likely have to get a DNA test to prove he is your father. Since he is cremated, I'm not sure if this can be done.

If your dad knew about you, he could ahve possibly left something for you in a will.

Call an attorney and not one that you see a commercial for. Try the yellow pages or online.

Answer 2

Being that you didn't know your father(you didn't have contact with him) you aren't considered his next of kin. Your uncle is. He has every right to cremate him. What would you have done? You never knew the man. Maybe he wanted to be cremated. Let sleeping dogs lie, in other words let him rest in peace. I am sorry you never knew him.

Answer 3

Frankly, it's unlikely there will ever be any progress with trying to take legal action against your uncle. Unless you have reason (ie a will) to believe he violated your father's wishes.

As for possessions, same thing, without a will, you need to challenge the estate in probate court. If there is property, or something of true value, then go for it.

If it's a matter of cooperation, play nice, swallow your pride, and try to work with that ******.

Answer 4

I ran into this with my fiance' when he passed. I had no rights to carry out his desire to be cremated without him having a will on file. So since he had a son, who was physically disabled from cerebral palsy in a hospital on the other coast, I was told his unwritten desires could not be carried out. I was told the son, could come back and sue me since he was next of kin. We had no clue where exactly his son was, so we had to bury him as reasoning was it was easier to cremate someone if they were buried but you can't put ashes together to make someone whole and bury them.

Answer 5

you need to seek the advice of an attorney ASAP.