Fort Lee, New Jersey - As if the death of a loved one wasn't bad enough, an unthinkable mix-up caused chaos at a New Jersey funeral and more heartbreak for two families.

It was a grave mistake, to say the least.

Kyung Ja Kim of Fort Lee passed away in November, and her body was to be buried three days later at a traditional Korean ceremony.

The Central Funeral Home of New Jersey and Blackley Funeral Home and Cremation Services, Inc. were responsible for the funeral preparations, and the funeral service was to take place at a nearby church Kim had helped build.

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But as the 93-year-old's relatives and friends gathered at the church to pay their respects, Kim's daughter Kummi Kim quickly noticed something was off.

"When she opened the casket, I told them, 'This is not my mom,'" Kummi Kim told ABC7. "She was so much younger looking."

Afterwards, the woman was found to be twenty years younger than Kim and was dressed in her clothes.

But funeral home staff insisted that the dead woman in the coffin was Kummi Kim's mother, and the ceremony marched on.

When Kim's coffin later arrived to the grave site, a turn of events caused mayhem.

As Kim's body was being lowered into the grave, a funeral home employee finally admitted their mistake to the family – that they had embalmed the wrong woman – and subsequently ran away from the cemetery.

In a moment of shock, Kummi Kim collapsed at the scene, after which the other guests also learned the truth – that they had said their goodbyes to a stranger in a terrible faux pas.

Now, Kim's family has filed a lawsuit against the funeral home, claiming they were unable to give their loved one a proper burial because of the mix-up. The postponement meant many guests could not attend again.

"We couldn't have a real church service. No other friends or church members could come. It's not her wish," Kummi Kim said.

To make matters even worse, the family of the deceased woman mistakenly in Kim's place also could not have a proper funeral: "They couldn't do open casket for the other family, because she had already started to decay."

Kyung Ja Kim's family is seeking $50 million in damages. They say every penny they win will be donated to their mother's church.