It should be no surprise: Flint councilman Eric Mays is as controversial in his passing as he was in life.

The siblings of deceased Flint Councilman Eric Mays cannot move forward with a funeral for their brother this week amid a lawsuit over who has the rights to his remains, a judge ruled Thursday.

The lawsuit [filed by Mays’ son, Eric HaKeem Deontaye Mays] accuses Mays’s four siblings of conspiring to unlawfully seize control of the former councilman’s remains and profit from “their fraudulent scheme” by soliciting donations from the community for funeral services.

Mays, a passionate and combative councilman and TikTok sensation, died at his home on Feb. 24 but didn’t leave behind a will, according to the suit, which claims only his son has next-of-kin rights to handle the remains.

The suit alleges that two of Mays’s siblings lied to the Genesee County Medical Examiner’s Office and said that Mays had no children. A third sibling, who is an employee of the funeral home, falsely claimed that he had legal authority to authorize the release of the body, the suit claims. […] Now the funeral home is refusing to turn over Mays’s body to his son, even though Eric Mays provided the company with the required documentation to release the remains to him, according to the suit.

Further reading…

• The Freep’s take: Flint councilman’s funeral, life insurance money prompt fight, lawsuit asking for millions (via archive.is)
• And from The News: Late Flint councilman’s son claims in lawsuit relatives are ‘holding his body hostage’ (via archive.is)