A WOMAN is so frustrated about burial regulations that she is threatening to make sure her ashes are disposed of illegally.

Christina Rea, 69, had planned to have her ashes buried in her grandparents’ grave, but was advised she needed permission from all of their next-of-kin, some of whom she has lost contact with.

Mrs Rea, of Hutton Rudby, near Stokesley, North Yorkshire, was told it is illegal to put ashes in an existing grave without the grave deed being transferred to her, and for that she needs the permission from all relatives in her generation.

“It’s all so ridiculous,” she said. “I don’t have children and I’m 69, so I thought it was time to start looking into things like burial arrangements.”

She said she found out she needed permission from six relatives, her brother, sister and four cousins.

“We’re not in touch as such and there’s one I really don’t know the address of.

“But it’s a case of not wanting to ask them in case they refuse. I’m reluctant to ask because I would hate for us all to fall out about it.”

Mrs Rea, who planned to have her ashes put in her grandparents’ grave in Thornaby Cemetery, Thornaby, near Stockton, said: “My grandfather was a funeral director in Yarm, so I should have been aware of these issues.

“It must be so emotional for some families who just want to have their mother’s or father’s ashes buried in a family grave, having to contact everyone in their family.

“These days families are so fractured – there might be divorce, separation, step children, adoptive children to contact, there’s so many emotional factors involved.”

A spokesman for Stockton Borough Council said: “Stockton council’s bereavement services team has and will continue to work closely with Ms Rea.

“We completely understand Ms Rea’s frustration, but where there are two or more people with the same relationship to a registered grave owner that has died, each has an equal entitlement to the rights of that grave.”

Mrs Rae said: “I’ve said to my family, I don’t want all this legal fuss, just bury my ashes in the grave in secret when no one is looking. It just means I can’t have my name on the gravestone, which is sad.”