Australian Family Court Orders Man to Dig Up Parents' Graves in Family Farm, After Divorce Settlement

A man who split from his former wife in Australia and had to give the family farm to her said it was a 'kick in the guts' after the court ordered him to dig up his parents' graves in the farm. The Family Court ordered that his former wife retains the family farm where the man's parents were buried.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the man, given the pseudonym 'Mr Moss' by the court, had to demolish the memorial garden he had established, which included removing headstones over buried urns containing his mother's and father's ashes.

'Mr Moss' and his former wife, known as Mrs Moss, 'desperately wanted' the sole right to the southern highlands property, the report said.

But Justice Stewart Austin cited the 'transportability of [her] husband's mementoes' as weighing in Mrs Moss's favour when deciding who should get the farm when their joint assets were carved up, the report added.

While the property had much sentimental value to Mr Moss, the ashes were not interred and the headstones were not immovably fixed, Justice Austin said.

Mr Moss was given 14 days to dig up the urns and remove the headstones and a bronze bust of his father.

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"It's a kick in the guts," he said, adding: "It's not just a block of land or a piece of dirt - it was my parents' home."

According to the report, when his father died in 2002, Mr Moss began creating a memorial garden. And when his mother died six years later, her funeral was held in the garden and her ashes buried next to her husband's.

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Mr and Mrs Moss separated in August 2010, although they continued to live together at the property with their two children until April last year, the report said.

Mr Moss said that he hoped he could buy another land and bury his parents' ashes there, it added.

Source-ANI