Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Florida

Volusia County ME said he was turning it in as an unclaimed body...

I am trying to get a friend of mine that died last week a proper sendoff. He has NO cash, NO family, NO life insurance, nothing. The only thing that he does have is a plot next to his wife. Medical Examiners office said call Seminole County Community Services. SCCS tells me that they cannot cremate him because there is no blood relative to sign the papers. The only thing that they will do is put him in an unmarked grave in the public cemetery in Seminole County. I tried to explain to them that he has a plot that is paid for next to his wife Rose who died almost 15 years ago. They tell me that they pay $950.00 to the Funeral home for a funeral and that is considered final payment. They told me to talk to the funeral home and see if they would take the $950.00 and have him buried next to his wife.The funeral home told me that the only way to get him to be buried next to his wife would be for us to come up with:

1- $800.00 to have him cremated privately. (We can cremate him if it is done privately) This is in addition to the $950.00 that the state pays the Funeral Home. The state wont cremate him without a BLOOD relatives signature. I called the Funeral home that was on rotation for this month for this sort of thing (not sure I can mention the name, but they cover all 3 counties in Central FL.. Easy to figure out) and explained the situation to them. They wont budge on the price. We figured we could at least get the body in our possession and then do some type of fundraiser to try and raise the money to put him next to Rose.

2- $1030.00 that it would cost to open and close the plot that he has next to his wife. This is paid to the cemetery and is above and beyond the $950.00 that the state pays the Funeral Home.

It is just me and a buddy of mine that are trying to take care of this. We were pretty much the only family/friends that he still had. He has a step Grand Daughter that is a single mother and not able to contribute anything. We dont have the money to be able to do this... so... it looks like he will be buried in an unmarked grave with no marker, miles away from where his wife is buried. It's a shame what this world has come to....

If there is a funeral home somewhere that reads this and wants to step up and help, that would be great. From what SCCS said, they pay the $950.00 to any funeral home. I have about 48 hrs to get the body claimed. The Volusia County ME is doing the paperwork now to move things forward.. After that, they will bury him in the unmarked grave.

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