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| To amend sections 2108.75 and 2108.81 of the Revised | 1 |
| Code to give the right of disposal to the United | 2 |
| States Secretary of Veterans Affairs regarding | 3 |
| abandoned or unclaimed remains of persons who are | 4 |
| entitled to be buried in a national cemetery. | 5 |
| Section 1. That sections 2108.75 and 2108.81 of the Revised | 6 |
| Code be amended to read as follows: | 7 |
| Sec. 2108.75. (A) A person shall be disqualified from | 8 |
| serving as a representative or successor representative, or from | 9 |
| having the right of disposition for a deceased adult pursuant to | 10 |
| division (B) of section 2108.81 of the Revised Code, if any of the | 11 |
| following occurs: | 12 |
| (1) The person dies. | 13 |
| (2) A probate court declares or determines that the person is | 14 |
| incompetent. | 15 |
| (3) The person resigns or declines to exercise the right as | 16 |
| described in section 2108.88 of the Revised Code. | 17 |
| (4) The person refuses to exercise the right within two days | 18 |
| after notification of the declarant's death. | 19 |
| (5) The person cannot be located with reasonable effort. | 20 |
| (6) The person meets the criteria described in section | 21 |
| 2108.76 or 2108.77 of the Revised Code. | 22 |
| (B) No owner, employee, or agent of a funeral home, cemetery, | 23 |
| or crematory providing funeral, burial, or cremation services for | 24 |
| a declarant shall serve as a representative or successor | 25 |
| representative for the declarant unless the owner, employee, or | 26 |
| agent is related to the declarant by blood, marriage, or adoption. | 27 |
| (C) Subject to divisions (C)(2) and (D)(2) of section 2108.70 | 28 |
| of the Revised Code, if a person is disqualified from serving as | 29 |
| the declarant's representative or successor representative, or | 30 |
| from having the right of disposition for a deceased adult pursuant | 31 |
| to section 2108.81 of the Revised Code, as described in division | 32 |
| (A) of this section, the right is automatically reassigned to, and | 33 |
| vests in, the next person who has the right pursuant to the | 34 |
| declarant's written declaration or pursuant to the order of | 35 |
| priority in section 2108.81 of the Revised Code. | 36 |
| Sec. 2108.81. (A) If either of the following is true, | 37 |
| division (B) of this section shall apply: | 38 |
| (1) An adult has not executed a written declaration pursuant | 39 |
| to sections 2108.70 to 2108.73 of the Revised Code that remains in | 40 |
| force at the time of the adult's death. | 41 |
| (2) Each person to whom the right of disposition has been | 42 |
| assigned or reassigned pursuant to a written declaration is | 43 |
| disqualified from exercising the right as described in section | 44 |
| 2108.75 of the Revised Code. | 45 |
| (B) Subject to | 46 |
| and sections 2108.75 and 2108.79 of the Revised Code, the right | 47 |
| of disposition is assigned to the following persons, if mentally | 48 |
| competent adults who can be located with reasonable effort, in | 49 |
| the order of priority stated: | 50 |
| (1) The deceased person's surviving spouse; | 51 |
| (2) The sole surviving child of the deceased person or, if | 52 |
| there is more than one surviving child, all of the surviving | 53 |
| children, collectively; | 54 |
| (3) The deceased person's surviving parent or parents; | 55 |
| (4) The deceased person's surviving sibling, whether of the | 56 |
| whole or of the half blood or, if there is more than one sibling | 57 |
| of the whole or of the half blood, all of the surviving siblings, | 58 |
| collectively; | 59 |
| (5) The deceased person's surviving grandparent or | 60 |
| grandparents; | 61 |
| (6) The deceased person's surviving grandchild, or if there | 62 |
| is more than one surviving grandchild, all of the surviving | 63 |
| grandchildren collectively; | 64 |
| (7) The lineal descendants of the deceased person's | 65 |
| grandparents, as described in division (I) of section 2105.06 of | 66 |
| the Revised Code; | 67 |
| (8) The person who was the deceased person's guardian at the | 68 |
| time of the deceased person's death, if a guardian had been | 69 |
| appointed; | 70 |
| (9) Any other person willing to assume the right of | 71 |
| disposition, including the personal representative of the deceased | 72 |
| person's estate or the licensed funeral director with custody of | 73 |
| the deceased person's body, after attesting in writing that a good | 74 |
| faith effort has been made to locate the persons in divisions | 75 |
| (B)(1) to (8) of this section. | 76 |
| (10) If the deceased person was an indigent person or other | 77 |
| person the final disposition of whose body is the financial and | 78 |
| statutory responsibility of the state or a political subdivision | 79 |
| of this state, the public officer or employee responsible for | 80 |
| arranging the final disposition of the remains of the deceased | 81 |
| person. | 82 |
| (C) Prior to proceeding to a person described in division | 83 |
| (B)(9) of this section, the person having custody of a deceased | 84 |
| person's body or remains shall notify the United States department | 85 |
| of veterans affairs that the person has custody of the body or | 86 |
| remains of a person and the name of and other identifying | 87 |
| information relating to that person. The person shall give the | 88 |
| secretary of veterans affairs sixty days within which to examine | 89 |
| the records of the person, and the body or remains of the deceased | 90 |
| person, to determine whether the deceased person was a veteran | 91 |
| entitled to be buried in a national cemetery. The person shall | 92 |
| permit, upon request, the United States secretary of veterans | 93 |
| affairs to examine any records the person has in relation to the | 94 |
| deceased person, and to examine the body or remains. If the | 95 |
| secretary determines that the deceased person is entitled to be | 96 |
| buried in a national cemetery, upon notifying the person with | 97 |
| custody of the body or remains, the secretary is assigned the | 98 |
| right of disposition, and that right shall take priority over any | 99 |
| right assigned pursuant to division (B)(9) of this section. The | 100 |
| secretary may request the person with custody of the body or | 101 |
| remains to release custody of the body or remains to the | 102 |
| secretary. If the secretary makes such a request, the person with | 103 |
| custody of the body or remains shall release the body or remains | 104 |
| to the secretary. | 105 |
| Section 2. That existing sections 2108.75 and 2108.81 of the | 106 |
| Revised Code are hereby repealed. | 107 |