Location: Washington State
So my husband’s grandmother recently passed away. Her husband had passed in the mid 2000’s and just before he died they bought two plots in a local cemetery. When they went to dig the grave for my husband’s grandmother we were told that there was already a coffin in what was her spot. There was no headstone (apart from my husband’s grandfather’s) and the cemetery is claiming that they don’t have any records of who this mystery person is. We asked if we could get the other person moved and we were told no. Apparently we would need a court order and permission from the family of the other person to remove the coffin. My FIL asked how we would do that if we didn’t know who the person was and was basically told that “this is your problem now”. The other option that they gave was if we had my husband’s grandmother cremated we could stick her in with his grandfather but a) she didn’t want that and b) they own the other plot but somebody messed up. Right now my husband’s grandmother is in “storage” at the funeral home, but they are charging for every day that she is there. The cemetery also wants my in-laws to pay up for digging the other hole just to find it was already occupied. We keep getting bounced between the cemetery and the city (they both co-own the land). My husband is a lawyer but even he says he has no idea where to start on this case (husband is a public defender). I asked my dad who is a retired estates and trusts lawyer and even he is a bit baffled by the whole situation. I know it’s a long shot but does anybody have any idea where we should start with this case? How do we get the other person “evicted” so we can properly bury my husband’s grandmother?