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My grandmother's ashes were scattered at an unknown location by an in law that does not observe Jewish custom.

I would like to retrieve the cremation urn as it may possibly contain a residue of her ashes. I am not ready to abandon her remains.

Is it allowed for me to inter the urn with the residue at a family burial location? How can I do this and comply with Talmudic law?

mbloch
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Asher
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    Asher welcome to Mi Yodeya, and thanks for this delicate question! MiYodeya typically refrains me from personalized advice and recommends you speak with a rabbi, or in your case with the local hevra kadisha which typically handles burial issues in every community. It is possible your question will get closed unless you de-personalize it. In any case if you haven’t done so already, you should take a look at the tour. I hope you'll look around and find other Q&A of interest and stay learning with us. – mbloch Mar 08 '16 at 23:11
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    Outside of your personal case, Judaism places greats importance on interring all remains, even if only body parts, so it appears the right thing to do to contact the local hevra kadisha and ask them for help to inter the remains here as well. What I don't know is how specific post-cremation issues are handled. May Hashem comfort you amongst the mourners of Zion and Yerushalaim – mbloch Mar 08 '16 at 23:17

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A similar question was asked of the Institute of Dayanim in Israel, and I'll summarize it here. Notice that their answer relies on the fact that they knew that the deceased had no desire for her body to be cremated, and you should check if this is true for your case as well:

It is allowed to bury her remains in a Jewish grave. Even though the Hayey Olam (who discusses this here as well) brought many of that generation's rabbis' letters forbidding the burial, that was related to people who wanted to be cremated.

It is also noted that it is allowed to bury the remains in a Jewish grave, but there's no obligation to.

Any which way, I second mbloch's comment about consulting with a rabbi who knows the case, the Hevra Kadisha, etc.

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Cauthon
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