In June 2019, the General Synod Legal Advisory Commission published new guidance Burial of a portion of a deceased’s body or ashes (“the Opinion”). Aspects of the Opinion are relevant to the recent consistory court judgment In the Matter of SMF deceased [2019] ECC Lee 4, which considered whether cremated remains could be exhumed to permit a small quantity of the buried ashes to be processed to form a glass-like material to be set into a ring as a memento of the deceased. The case will be reviewed in a later post. Here we consider the wider implications of this guidance which focusses on issues relating to burial rather than to exhumation. Continue reading →