The estate stuff can take ten years for all I care. And I also think cremation would be the logical thing in a case like this and I doubt he would object. The state is about to do something soon though about the body, which is my only concern, not that it is a bad idea, but I do think he should not be considered indigent when he was middle-class as far as I know, and a way could probably be found to pay for a simple cremation or burial, charged against his estate.   There are things that can be done from a distance in terms of finding relatives or ruling out the fact reasonably at least that none exist and expediting this..also Jewish people sit shiva etc., which I do not know about but maybe some of then want to do something along those lines. mg