FUNERAL EXPENSES

FUNERAL EXPENSES, in Law. If limited to the degree and quality of the deceased and the estate he has left, funeral expenses are a privileged debt, allowed before all other debts and charges, both in England and Scotland. If the parties primarily liable neglect the duty of giving decent burial to the dead, a stranger may do so, and claim reimbursement out of his effects. In Scotland it is held that moderate and suitable mourning for the widow and such of the children of the deceased as were present at the funeral is a valid charge; but the reverse is the case in England, it having been decided that the widow has no claim for mourning either against the executor or the creditors of her husband.