L. Ron Hubbard was cremated and his ashes scattered at sea within a day of his death in January 1986, after his son had sued to have him declared dead

L. Ron Hubbard had not been seen in public for six years when he died of a stroke at 8 p.m. on 24 January 1986, in a motor home on his ranch near Creston. He was 74. In November 1982 his eldest son, Ronald DeWolf (born L. Ron Hubbard Jr.), had filed a probate petition in Riverside, California, saying his father was dead or incompetent. The suit ended after Hubbard produced a fingerprinted affidavit saying he was well. In 1986 Scientology attorney Earle Cooley arranged cremation for the morning after the death. The San Luis Obispo County coroner stopped it, took fingerprints, and matched all 10 to FBI, Navy, police and passport records. Attorneys presented a religious-belief certificate dated 20 January 1986 refusing an autopsy, and the coroner accepted a toxicology test instead. The body was then released and cremated, and the ashes were scattered in the Pacific on the Saturday. Church counsel said Hubbard signed a will the day before he died, leaving his estate to the church after providing for his wife and children. The estate was reported at $26 million^†. DeWolf accepted a settlement from the church after the death and agreed to stop commenting, according to a critical biographer^†.