Colorado Springs court order returns ashes of loved one to family eight months after his death

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - Eight months after 77-year-old Frank Durbin died, his ashes were released to his family and spread.  However, the process of getting here was complicated and emotional, according to his family.

His ashes were held by Public Administrator Catherine Seal, a court-appointed public official, who oversees the estates of those who die without any assets -- or, without any known family members.

RELATED: KRDO13 Investigates: The Death Collector

For months, his family received mounting bills from the Public Administrator's office, into the thousands -- all the while his belongings: his 2009 Kia Rondo, his bank account, and furniture, were under Seal's control.

Durbin died on January 23, inside his SUV at a Colorado Springs grocery store parking lot. The coroner couldn't find next-of-kin through a quick search, so, Frank's case was passed to the Public Administrator to conduct a more thorough search.

Frank's ex-wife was found, but she didn't have any contact information for his family; Frank's sister Marjorie was eventually tracked, but by the time she received notice from the Public Administrator's Office -- one month after his passing in February -- Frank's apartment had been seized and his belongings relinquished to apartment management to dispose of.

Frank's family stopped communicating with the Public Administrator's Office; each correspondence resulted in added charges. 

All the while, the family didn't know where Frank's remains were.

"None of us have closure.  Somebody dies, they either get buried or they get cremated. The family, if they're cremated, receives the cremains.  We don't have that. We have nothing," said Hannah Cooke, Frank's great-niece in a May interview with KRDO13 Investigates. 

Seal, when pressed about the decedent's remains in a June interview with KRDO13 Investigates, however, said "I can tell you that any family that provides the next of kin can have the cremains." 

It all came to a crescendo when Frank's family was petitioned to court to settle matters. 

"I didn't want to be here.  I didn't want to have to contact the news.  But that was the only -- I didn't want to have to contact the Attorney General.  But I got tired of calling her office and given the runaround.  'She's not here.  She's moving offices.'  I just wanted some respect, because it is a death in the family," said Hannah Cooke, in court.

"[It] is devastating to me.  And to this day, I don't know where he's at," said Frank's sister, Marjorie Nazarenus Durbin, also upset the whereabouts of her brother's remains weren't immediately clear.

Judge Gregory Werner, explained why there was a month-long delay in notifying the family:

"She can't just call anybody.  She has to make sure that she's talking to the right people. Um, so I understand the frustration. And I wish there were a better system, but, it's the statutes of the state of Colorado that govern over what anybody else wants at that point in time." said the Honorable Werner.

Total fees on Frank's case, Seal testified, amounted to $5,342.28 -- not including her personal attorney's fees.  Frank's estate would only cover $3,175.35, between his Kia Rondo and bank account funds.

According to Seal, she would only make "30 cents on the dollar" to settle the estate.

Judge Gregory Werner agreed that the fees were "reasonable," asking Seal where Frank's ashes were -- which wasn't immediately clear.

"If the ashes are not at my office, then, they are available to me and they would be at the funeral home. I don't know because generally, the funeral home will bring me a batch of them, and so they are available to me," said Seal.

August 29, upon court order, the family obtained Frank's cremains.

On Frank's urn was a cremation date of May 30, 2024, four months after his death, coinciding when KRDO13 Investigates started asking questions of the public administrator. 

The family was able to spread his ashes along Florida's coast ahead of Hurricane Helene's landfall in late September. 

For months, the family told KRDO13 Investigates they were under the impression that they still owed the Public Administrator thousands when in actuality, they were "surprised" to hear the shortfall is paid through Seal's personal funds -- gained from larger estates she oversees.

In a statement, Seal wrote to KRDO13 Investigates:

"The family is not billed for any balance due in a case administered by the public administrator. If my office recovers insufficient funds in a case to pay my expenses, I must cover those expenses with my own personal funds.

The office of the public administrator receives no public funding. We are paid from the assets of the estate. Any remaining funds after all estate expenses and creditor claims are paid are distributed either under the terms of the will, if there is a will, or to the intestate heirs when the decedent died without a will.

Medicaid only pays for cremation if all assets are liquidated and paid to the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing. This would include bank accounts, motor vehicles and other property."

Catherine Seal, Public Administrator

The Colorado Attorney General is investigating the case.