Family disputes over a loved one’s funeral arrangements are increasingly frequent, with courts intervening if consensus cannot be reached. In many common law jurisdictions, the law favours the executor where the deceased made a will and the highest ranking next-of-kin where the deceased died intestate. But what if two or more people fall within the same kinship tier and have equal rights to determine the deceased’s fate—who has the final say? Adopting a uniquely comparative approach which draws the authorities together for the first time, this article analyses the factors devised by judges in Australia and England, and contrasts them with the discrete statutory tests adopted in parts of Canada and the United States. Having evaluated the various approaches, the article proposes its own hybrid legal solution for breaking the deadlock in so-called ‘equal kinship disputes’.

中文翻译：

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“平等第一”：打破父母和兄弟姐妹葬礼纠纷的僵局

因亲人的葬礼安排而发生的家庭纠纷越来越频繁，如果无法达成共识，法院就会介入。在许多普通法司法管辖区，法律有利于死者立遗嘱的遗嘱执行人和死者无遗嘱的最高级别的直系亲属。但是，如果两个或两个以上的人属于同一亲属等级，并且拥有决定死者命运的平等权利——谁拥有最终决定权呢？本文首次采用独特的比较方法将当局联合起来，分析了澳大利亚和英国法官设计的因素，并将它们与加拿大和美国部分地区采用的离散法定测试进行了对比。评估了各种方法后，