When you die alone and broke
Someone buried at no cost in a pauper’s grave is not allowed a monument or cross under council rules until 60 years after their death. Vicki Anderson reports.
‘‘All we get is a name and nobody has claimed this person from the hospital. We put a lot of work in to work out the details. Dealing with banks can be a real challenge, that can take months.’’
Mark Glanville
Leaning against the harsh wind, Dee squats down behind a tombstone in the Ruru Lawn cemetery and points to a secluded spot where his friend once sheltered.
Shaking slightly, he points to a pauper’s grave where this friend can now ‘‘finally rest’’.
On Hereford St in central Christchurch, an unofficial meeting spot for the city’s homeless street wha¯ nau, he adopts a cheeky pose, dancing on the spot outside ‘‘Bendy Wendy’s’’ where the pair become friends.
Since being released from prison three years ago, life has spiralled downhill for Dee, but he’s hopeful. Those living on the street care for each other like family in life and death.
People scurrying to their 9 to 5 lives avert their eyes from those sitting cross-legged on the footpath. Others toss a few coins with the flicker of a sympathetic smile.
When night falls, Dee describes the way the city sheds its respectable demeanour like a winter coat and the mean streets get meaner. Some, like his friend, don’t make it out alive.
Dee explains some homeless seek places outside the central city streets, a chance to sleep away from the drunk who stumble from pubs, kicking the homeless as they sleep on the footpath. After a particularly brutal beating, he and his friend sought refuge and sleep in the cemetery for several months.
When his friend died ‘‘two winters ago’’, a combination of a heart attack and synthetic drug use, he died broke and alone. A social worker helped organise a pauper’s funeral.
Such deaths are mourned deeply. Suicide among the street wha¯ nau is another hidden problem.
The Burial and Cremation Act 1964 requires the Christchurch City Council to ‘‘bury the bodies of poor persons and persons from any hospital, prison, or other public institution on the request of the person in charge of such institutions’’.
Sentimental items left on a pauper’s grave are removed by the council. Someone buried in a pauper’s grave is not allowed a monument or cross under council rules as the ‘‘Exclusive Right of Burial has not been purchased’’.
Fees are not waived until 60 years after burial, so a monument may not be placed on the grave until then.
Staring solemnly at the folder of an 85-year-old who died in hospital this month with no known next of kin, funeral director Mark Glanville, of Sydenham-based G Barrell & Sons Simplicity Funerals, says it is ‘‘sadly common’’.
‘‘It is very sad,’’ Glanville says. ‘‘It can be homeless people, or people with no next of kin, recluses or elderly people. I deal with one a month and in the last five years of doing this would have dealt with at least 50 paupers’ funerals, which I would think is a high number.’’
Paupers’ graves are located in cemeteries around the city, and at the council’s discretion.
‘‘The ownership of the plot remains with the council,’’ says Glanville. ‘‘It is just under $3000 for a plot from the council for the interment fee. If there are a few friends they can save up between them and put a plaque on, but they have to buy the plot first. They have to buy it from the council at current prices.’’
When Glenn died alone, and destitute, Art-East founder and facilitator Lis Rate-Smith says it was a ‘‘big shock’’.
‘‘It caused a lot of confusion about what was going to happen with his body regarding a service. He had no will and no money... he was buried in a pauper’s grave.
‘‘Because it’s not owned by anybody a stone or plaque cannot be put on top of the grave site. It is a real shame, there was nothing to represent his life.’’
The man’s grieving friends gathered to hold a fundraising art exhibition to pay for the plot and place a headstone on it.
‘‘It was beautiful to watch,’’ says Rate-Smith. ‘‘So many of them were on benefits and struggling themselves. They sold their artwork but didn’t hesitate to share that. It was really special.’’
Glanville says if a person has friends they can buy the plot from the council and pay it off. Some crowdfund for paupers’ funerals via ‘‘Givealittle or Memorial-gifting. com’’. For the homeless, the City Mission and local runanga ‘‘do a lot to help’’.
‘‘It is just under $3000 for a plot from the council for the interment free. It’s not cheap to be buried. Depending on which one you go to, the cremation fees in Christchurch fluctuate between $700 and $900.’’
At a service, it will sometimes simply be Glanville and ‘‘one or two cemetery staff’’. He keeps the words he will say in notes on his cellphone.
‘‘It is very simple,’’ he says. ‘‘We put a death notice in the paper to see who comes out of the woodwork. If no family comes forward, we facilitate the burial.
‘‘The cemetery staff take off their hats. We stand around the grave. Sometimes a neighbour might show up.
‘‘If a cross is found with their belongings, I put a bit of religion into it. We must do that, we have got to be able to look after them one way or another and make sure they have a dignified funeral.’’
A lot of detective work takes place to establish if the person has any extended family or has left a will.
‘‘The Mayor’s Welfare Fund needs a next of kin or family member to try and apply for it,’’ he says. ‘‘We have been told there are no relatives. Usually the person has been deceased for some time and nobody has claimed the body. We have other ways of working something out, it takes a lot of time. Our hearts go out to them.’’
He encouraged everyone to ‘‘’do some sort of funeral pre-planning’’. ‘‘Even if you don’t have family, you can have a nest-egg or some sort of pre-paid scenario into a funeral trust for your funeral,’’ he says. ‘‘Make a will, write your wishes down.’’
When someone dies in hospital and isn’t claimed by anyone, Glanville is contacted by a chaplain or social worker.
‘‘All we get is a name and nobody has claimed this person from the hospital. We put a lot of work in to work out the details. Dealing with banks can be a real challenge, that can take months,’’ he says.
‘‘I still have one on my files and that is coming up to three years dealing with a particular bank.’’
A local lawyer also volunteers to help those who ‘‘die alone and broke’’.
A ‘‘legal loophole’’ meant if someone died wealthy but alone they also might not be laid to rest for ‘‘a long time’’.
‘‘If you get somebody with no family, and they have for instance $200,000 in the bank or own a house then that complicates it majorly... we have to apply for letters of administration from the High Court to organise a burial or cremation.’’ This can take ‘‘six to eight months’’.
‘‘The last one, it was a long time before we got to bury the lady,’’ he says.
‘‘It’s awful. I just reiterate, everyone should have a plan in place, it costs you nothing to do it through a funeral director, you get your wishes down on file, keep your file in your belongings somewhere.’’
Every five years the Cemeteries Bylaw and Cemetery Handbook the council uses, based on the Burial and Cremation Act from 1964, is scheduled to be reviewed.
‘‘The next review is in 2023,’’ says a council spokesperson.
‘‘Items that get reviewed are triggered by legislative changes, operational demands or stakeholder requests.’’
Until then our homeless and poor will continue to lie in unmarked graves, unauthorised flowers and sentimental items left by mourning friends removed under council rules.
In Sydenham, Glanville wheels a simple coffin for a pauper’s funeral sombrely.
‘‘When you get someone in their 80s who is alone with no-one to care or say goodbye... it is incredibly sad.
‘‘We are looking after these people, we are just here to help people if we can.
‘‘That’s life.’’
In the Ruru Lawn cemetery on a quiet Wednesday morning, a man with no home lays a simple red flower on the unmarked grave of his friend.