Florida parents in legal battle over dead son's ashes

By Barbara Liston ORLANDO, Fla. (Reuters) - Lawyers for a divorced Florida couple fought over the ashes of their dead son in court on Wednesday, after a ruling in May that the remains could not be split in half. A hearing on the case got underway in Delray Beach before Palm Beach County Judge Martin Colin, who has said he expects to appoint a third party to resolve the dispute, court records show. Scott Wilson, 23, was killed in 2010 in a drunk driving incident that resulted in a 16-year prison sentence for Palm Beach County polo magnate John Goodman. Wilson's divorced parents, William and Lili Wilson, split a $46 million settlement from their civil lawsuit against Goodman in 2012, according to local media. Wilson's ashes have been stored at a funeral home for more than four years while his parents fought over the legal question of whether remains are divisible like any other asset in probate court, according to court records. William Wilson, in a probate case opened in 2010, asked for the remains to be declared property and the ashes split so that he could bury his portion in a family burial plot in Blue Ridge, Georgia. Lili Wilson argued that remains are not property, and for religious reasons wanted the ashes interred near her West Palm Beach home. Though it is common for survivors to split ashes of loved ones outside the court system, the judge concluded there is no Florida precedent to find that cremated remains are property. A state appeals court ruling in May upheld that decision, citing commentary by 18th century English jurist Sir William Blackstone and a 19th century English case finding that "Our law recognizes no property in a corpse." (Editing by Jonathan Kaminsky; Editing by Richard Chang)