Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Michigan
mother of deceased or his children
A 41 year old man dies and there is no will. He has 3 children ages 18, 19, and 6. His parents are still living. When funeral arrangements were made the 18 and 19 year old were the ones to sign at the funeral home, but they put down bogus social #'s, After that was fixed it was they had no credit. One of the deceased bothers paid the $8000 in cash. There are insurance policies, but we are not sure how much at this time. Cause of death Caridac Arrest. At this point we still do not who the beneficiaries are onthe policies. do the parents of the deceased have a say of if the body can be disturbed or is it up to the adult children of his. They now want an autopsy and have hired a lawyer thinking it was the hospitals fault. The deceased had 2 prior heart attacks and was on lithium. Who has say so in this. the deceased parents do not want the body disturbed now that we havehad 2 days of showing and a burial tomorrow. The greedy daughters thinking the hospital messed up now want an autopsy.. Which way does the decision go????
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: mother of deceased or his children
If there are legitimate questions about what caused an individual's death, it is possible that a court would delay a burial in order to permit an autopsy to be performed; however, I am not sure what effect, if any, embalming might have on the accuracy of an autopsy.
I also assume that the individual died without a spouse. If so, then his children are the heirs of his estate (but not necessarily the beneficiaries of life insurance policies). Further, it seems to me that the children would have priority in determining what burial arrangements will control.
In any event, it looks like a probate estate should be opened so somebody has the authority to look into the possibility of malpractice. If the children do not do so within 28 days, then the parents of the decedent can. Given that there is a 6 year old child, it is probably not prudent to dismiss the possibility of malpractice out of hand.
The truth is that this entire scenario is very fact specific and there seems to be some gaps. Based on the tone of your inquiry, it does not appear that you are one of the children; and if you are not one of the parents, then you probably have no standing in this matter.
If, however, you have a direct interest in this matter and would like to pursue it further, you may contact Pat Prince or Shaheen Imami.
In any event, good luck and thanks for your inquiry.
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