A funeral director is being forced to store the cremated remains of more than 400 people some of which have been left with the firm for around 30 years.
Selwood’s, which has branches in Monifieth and Carnoustie, is backing a proposal that would see a limit put on the length of time funeral directors have to hang on to retained ashes.
The firm’s Lindsay Martin said it is a problem for all funeral directors.
“Often at the time of bereavement the family is unsure what to do with the cremated remains because it is not something they have spoken about with their relative or have thought about,” he said.
In many cases, Mr Martin continued, families are so grief-stricken that they do not realise that they have not given instructions for the ashes of their loved one to be dispersed in a garden of remembrance.
“That leaves us in a Catch-22 situation … because if we write to remind them, perhaps years later, they often don’t realise that we still have the ashes and it upsets them.
“The problem is that the cremated remains are their property so we can’t disperse them without their instructions.
“We treat them with the dignity and respect we give to all remains but we would like to see legislation that would give a set procedure for dealing with them.
“Perhaps the council could give us a small piece of burial ground so we could have a standard, dignified procedure.”Time limitMr Martin has expressed support for the time limit plan, in response to a Scottish Government consultation on issues surrounding death certification, burial and cremation.
“Selwood Funeral Directors have around 440 sets of retained ashes on our premises,” he said.
“We have been calling for government guidance on how we can dispose of these ashes, some of which have been on our premises for over 28 years.”
He agreed that “a limit of five years is a reasonable length of time to enable the next of kin to collect the ashes of the deceased,” with the ashes being returned to the cremation authority for disposal if uncollected.
“It is reasonable to enable the disposal of existing unclaimed ashes that have currently been stored on the premises of funeral directors for over five years, and where no instructions have been received, to be dispersed at a suitable location at the discretion of the funeral director.”
The proposals have also found favour with the National Association of Funeral Directors, whose members carry out 80% of funerals in Scotland.
They also believe responsibility for disposing of unclaimed ashes should lie with the crematoria.
“The association welcomes this discussion wholeheartedly,” said chief executive officer Alan Slater.
After five years, the crematorium which carried out the service should be obliged to accept the return of uncollected ashes for disposal, he said.
“Other options include dispersal at a ‘suitable’ location, but that raises the issue as to what is suitable,” he added.