The petitioner and all of her family lived in California. She petitioned for a faculty for the exhumation of her mother's remains for their re-interment in an unconsecrated family grave in California where the petitioner's daughter was interred and which would, in time, contain the remains of the petitioner and her wider family. The petitioner's mother had been interred in 1978. She had no other relatives, and expense and the petitioner's age meant that she was no longer able to visit her mother's grave. The petitioner wished for her remains to be buried with those of her mother, but if that took place it would mean that her wider family would not be able to visit her grave. The deputy chancellor held a hearing by telephone conference with the petitioner, who confirmed that her mother had died suddenly and unexpectedly and that she had had to come to England alone to make the arrangements for her burial without any advice, counsel or assistance from anyone other than strangers. She had been unable to afford the cost of transporting her mother's remains to the United States at that time. The deputy chancellor held that the facts of this case did not fall exactly within all or any of the circumstances specifically addressed in the Blagdon case. Nevertheless, those categories were not exhaustive. The facts here were most unusual and amounted to exceptional circumstances. The faculty was granted. [RA]
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