Brothers’ spat over father Michael Godwin’s final resting place ends up in High Court after body spends five months in mortuary
The Supreme Court judge intervened in the sad disagreement within the family by ordering the funeral of the 95-year-old man, whose body remained in the funeral morgue for almost five months due to the disagreement between his sons.
Michael Godwin died in a hospital in Leeds in November 2025 after returning to England for holiday in August.
His remains were partially embalmed and kept in a morgue because two of his three sons, William and Jason Godwin, disagreed over whether the body should be cremated or buried.
Born in Surbiton, south London, in 1929, Mr Godwin had an “impressive career” in lift engineering and lived in the south of France for more than 30 years.
He had previously stated that he wanted to be buried in France.
Amid the protracted dispute, William Godwin requested a Supreme Court declaration earlier this month asking a judge to confirm his “lawful authority” to arrange and instruct his father’s funeral and that Jason “had no lawful authority to prevent or interfere” with it.
Jason, by contrast, wished for his father to be buried in Hargeville, near Paris, in a homemade will he wrote in 2003 stating his wish to be buried in his then-partner’s hometown.
However, William was in favor of cremating the body, saying the family had “no connection” with the French cemetery.
In the decision given on Wednesday, Judge Jonathan Klein decided that Michael Godwin should be buried in England in accordance with the burial rites of the Church of England.
The judge also stipulated that William “must send an invitation” to his brother.
Judge Klein noted that Michael, a member of the Church of England, had expressed a “persistent desire” to be buried.
He also said returning the body to France could cause a “significant delay”.
The judge emphasized that he had no family ties to Hargeville, saying that none of the Godwin family “had any other connection with Hargeville” and that “it is unlikely that anyone would visit Mr. Godwin’s grave if he is buried there.”
He added that a French funeral “will lose some of its meaning or value if none of the mourners can speak French.”
The judge said the lengthy delay in arranging the funeral meant Mr Godwin’s body “will have decomposed in the more than five months since his death” and “may, sadly, be in a state of decomposition”.
