When Brian Dayman died of a heart attack on May 12, a bitter legal battle ensued. A modest estate worth somewhere between $25,000 and $100,000 is in dispute, but the timing of his cremation and possession of his ashes have also been sources of considerable acrimony.

“Sadly, his passing has led to some dispute within his family and those close to him regarding the disposal of his mortal remains,” NSW Supreme Court Justice Michael Meek wrote in a July judgment ruling that Dayman’s ashes be divided between three family factions, among them his daughter and her mother (his estranged partner). The pair had been involved in a “toxic separation” in 2004, according to court documents.