lThe family of a deceased person may demand that the deceased be cremated with or without his or her jewelry, as recalled in the following case: February 10, 2019, Mme X dies, leaving behind his nephew, Mr. Y, who lives in Germany.
When the Cap Santé funeral company contacted him and offered to organize the funeral, he asked them for advice. She does not explain to him that he must choose between taking his aunt’s jewelry before the burial or leaving it for cremation.
He signs the order form authorizing the closing of the coffin, after specifying that he will not arrive in time to attend. At the end of the cremation, when he asks about his aunt’s personal effects, he learns that she was cremated with her jewelry (wedding ring, ring adorned with a sapphire and diamonds, a solitaire that she intended to offer to her great-niece). .
He took legal action alleging lack of advice from Cap Santé. The Rennes Court of Appeal ruled in his favor on January 19. He orders Cap Santé to pay him 6,000 euros in damages. Could I have requested the return of the jewelry after the cremation? The Constitutional Council responded negatively on January 18, after the company Europe Métal Concept raised a priority question of constitutionality.
100 euros per body
Louis Piazza, president of this company, believes that the money from the recovery of metal waste from the human body (gold teeth, titanium or palladium prostheses, copper IUD), as well as possible jewelry, should go to the families of the deceased, and not to the crematoriums. “This is what caused me to be excluded from the market in favor of the Dutch company OrthoMetals”explains to World.
Since 2010, these two companies have been in charge – without legal supervision – of recovering metals and recovering them. This assessment is “insufficiently” My dearmy to 2 million euros a year, according to Mmy Jean-Baptiste Berlottier-Merle, lawyer for Europe Métal Concept, before the Constitutional Council, January 9 (video). “We found an average of 4 to 5 grams of gold per body and other very valuable rare metals”he said, so that the estimate “per body myst closer to 100 to 200 euros » that “from 5 to 10 euros”.
Recycling companies sell the metals they have processed and then donate a certain percentage to crematoriums (“80%”according to Mr. Piazza): a “lucrative and opaque business”For 60 million consumers, who, in 2019, He demanded more transparency in the use of the money raised.
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