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H. B. No. 231 As IntroducedAs Introduced
128th General Assembly | Regular Session | 2009-2010 |
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Cosponsors:
Representatives Murray, Ruhl, Evans, Grossman, Mecklenborg, Harwood, Skindell, Bubp, Lehner, Derickson, Blessing, Brown, Stebelton, Ujvagi, Yuko, Hagan
A BILL
To amend sections 2108.75 and 2108.81 of the Revised
Code to give the right of disposal to the United
States Secretary of Veterans Affairs regarding
abandoned or unclaimed remains of persons who are
entitled to be buried in a national cemetery.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
Section 1. That sections 2108.75 and 2108.81 of the Revised
Code be amended to read as follows:
Sec. 2108.75. (A) A person shall be disqualified from
serving as a representative or successor representative, or from
having the right of disposition for a deceased adult pursuant to
division (B) of section 2108.81 of the Revised Code, if any of the
following occurs:
(2) A probate court declares or determines that the person is
incompetent.
(3) The person resigns or declines to exercise the right as
described in section 2108.88 of the Revised Code.
(4) The person refuses to exercise the right within two days
after notification of the declarant's death.
(5) The person cannot be located with reasonable effort.
(6) The person meets the criteria described in section
2108.76 or 2108.77 of the Revised Code.
(B) No owner, employee, or agent of a funeral home, cemetery,
or crematory providing funeral, burial, or cremation services for
a declarant shall serve as a representative or successor
representative for the declarant unless the owner, employee, or
agent is related to the declarant by blood, marriage, or adoption.
(C) Subject to divisions (C)(2) and (D)(2) of section 2108.70
of the Revised Code, if a person is disqualified from serving as
the declarant's representative or successor representative, or
from having the right of disposition for a deceased adult pursuant
to section 2108.81 of the Revised Code, as described in division
(A) of this section, the right is automatically reassigned to, and
vests in, the next person who has the right pursuant to the
declarant's written declaration or pursuant to the order of
priority in section 2108.81 of the Revised Code.
Sec. 2108.81. (A) If either of the following is true,
division (B) of this section shall apply:
(1) An adult has not executed a written declaration pursuant
to sections 2108.70 to 2108.73 of the Revised Code that remains in
force at the time of the adult's death.
(2) Each person to whom the right of disposition has been
assigned or reassigned pursuant to a written declaration is
disqualified from exercising the right as described in section
2108.75 of the Revised Code.
(B) Subject to division divisions (A) and (C) of this section
and sections
2108.75 and 2108.79 of the Revised Code, the right
of disposition
is assigned to the following persons, if mentally
competent adults
who can be located with reasonable effort, in
the order of
priority stated:
(1) The deceased person's surviving spouse;
(2) The sole surviving child of the deceased person or, if
there is more than one surviving child, all of the surviving
children, collectively;
(3) The deceased person's surviving parent or parents;
(4) The deceased person's surviving sibling, whether of the
whole or of the half blood or, if there is more than one sibling
of the whole or of the half blood, all of the surviving siblings,
collectively;
(5) The deceased person's surviving grandparent or
grandparents;
(6) The deceased person's surviving grandchild, or if there
is more than one surviving grandchild, all of the surviving
grandchildren collectively;
(7) The lineal descendants of the deceased person's
grandparents, as described in division (I) of section 2105.06 of
the Revised Code;
(8) The person who was the deceased person's guardian at
the
time of the deceased person's death, if a guardian had been
appointed;
(9) Any other person willing to assume the right of
disposition, including the personal representative of the deceased
person's estate or the licensed funeral director with custody of
the deceased person's body, after attesting in writing that a good
faith effort has been made to locate the persons in divisions
(B)(1) to (8) of this section.
(10) If the deceased person was an indigent person or other
person the final disposition of whose body is the financial and
statutory responsibility
of the state or a political subdivision
of this state, the public
officer or employee responsible for
arranging the final
disposition of the remains of the deceased
person.
(C) Prior to proceeding to a person described in division
(B)(9) of this section, the person having custody of a deceased
person's body or remains shall notify the United States department
of veterans affairs that the person has custody of the body or
remains of a person and the name of and other identifying
information relating to that person. The person shall give the
secretary of veterans affairs sixty days within which to examine
the records of the person, and the body or remains of the deceased
person, to determine whether the deceased person was a veteran
entitled to be buried in a national cemetery. The person shall
permit, upon request, the United States secretary of veterans
affairs to examine any records the person has in relation to the
deceased person, and to examine the body or remains. If the
secretary determines that the deceased person is entitled to be
buried in a national cemetery, upon notifying the person with
custody of the body or remains, the secretary is assigned the
right of disposition, and that right shall take priority over any
right assigned pursuant to division (B)(9) of this section. The
secretary may request the person with custody of the body or
remains to release custody of the body or remains to the
secretary. If the secretary makes such a request, the person with
custody of the body or remains shall release the body or remains
to the secretary.
Section 2. That existing sections 2108.75 and 2108.81 of the
Revised Code are hereby repealed.
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