Bill Text: CA SB1284 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Human remains: conservator of the person or estate.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2016-06-27 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 39, Statutes of 2016. [SB1284 Detail]
Download: California-2015-SB1284-Chaptered.html
BILL NUMBER: SB 1284 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 39
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE JUNE 27, 2016
PASSED THE SENATE APRIL 11, 2016
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY JUNE 16, 2016
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 28, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Senator Hernandez
FEBRUARY 19, 2016
An act to amend Section 7105 of the Health and Safety Code,
relating to human remains.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1284, Hernandez. Human remains: conservator of the person or
estate.
Under existing law, if a decedent has not otherwise given
directions, the right to control the disposition of the remains of
the deceased person, the location and conditions of interment, and
arrangements for funeral goods and services vests in, and the
specified corresponding duty devolves upon, certain persons in a
specified order of succession. Existing law lists these persons, in
order, as an agent under a power of attorney for health care who has
the right and duty of disposition, the surviving spouse, other
specified relatives, and, when the decedent has sufficient assets, a
conservator of the person, a conservator of the estate, and the
public administrator.
Existing law requires, if the agent under a power of attorney, the
surviving spouse, or any of the other specified relatives who have
the right to control the disposition and arrange for funeral goods
and services fails to act or cannot be found within a specified
period, that the person's right to control the disposition and
arrange for funeral goods and services be relinquished and passed on
to the person or persons of the next degree of kinship in accordance
with the above list. Existing law also provides that if any of those
persons who would otherwise have equal rights to control the
disposition and arrange for funeral goods and services fail to agree
on disposition and funeral goods and services to be provided within 7
days of the date on which the right and duty of disposition devolved
upon the persons, a funeral establishment or a cemetery authority
having possession of the remains, or any person who has equal right
to control the disposition of the remains, may file a petition in the
superior court, as specified, seeking an order of the court
determining, as appropriate, who among those parties will have the
control of disposition and to direct that person to make interment of
the remains. These provisions do not apply to a conservator of the
person or a conservator of the estate that fails to act or cannot be
found within the specified period.
This bill would add a conservator of the person and a conservator
of the estate to the above provisions for purposes of relinquishment
or petition, as specified.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 7105 of the Health and Safety Code is amended
to read:
7105. (a) If the person or persons listed in paragraphs (1), (3),
(4), (5), (6), (7), and (8) of subdivision (a) of Section 7100 who
would otherwise have the right to control the disposition and arrange
for funeral goods and services fails to act, or fails to delegate
his or her authority to act to some other person within seven days of
the date when the right and duty devolves upon the person or
persons, or in the case of a person listed in paragraph (2) of
subdivision (a) of Section 7100, within 10 days of the date when the
right and duty devolves upon the person, the right to control the
disposition and arrange for funeral goods and services shall be
relinquished and passed on to the person or persons of the next
degree of kinship in accordance with subdivision (a) of Section 7100.
(b) If the person or persons listed in paragraphs (1), (3), (4),
(5), (6), (7), and (8) of subdivision (a) of Section 7100 who would
otherwise have the right to control the disposition and arrange for
funeral goods and services cannot be found within seven days of the
date when the right and duty devolves upon the person or persons, or
in the case of a person listed in paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of
Section 7100, within 10 days of the date when the right and duty
devolves upon the person, after reasonable inquiry, the right to
control the disposition and arrange for funeral goods and services
shall be relinquished and passed on to the person or persons of the
next degree of kinship in accordance with subdivision (a) of Section
7100.
(c) If any persons listed in paragraphs (1), (3), (4), (5), (6),
(7), and (8) of subdivision (a) of Section 7100 who would otherwise
have equal rights to control the disposition and arrange for funeral
goods and services fail to agree on disposition and funeral goods and
services to be provided within seven days of the date on which the
right and duty of disposition devolved upon the persons, a funeral
establishment or a cemetery authority having possession of the
remains, or any person who has equal right to control the disposition
of the remains may file a petition in the superior court in the
county in which the decedent resided at the time of his or her death,
or in which the remains are located, naming as a party to the action
those persons who would otherwise have equal rights to control the
disposition and seeking an order of the court determining, as
appropriate, who among those parties will have the control of
disposition and to direct that person to make interment of the
remains. The court, at the time of determining the person to whom the
right of disposition will vest, shall, from the remaining parties to
the action, establish an alternate order to whom the right to
control disposition will pass if the person vested with the right to
control disposition fails to act within seven days.
(d) If the person vested with the duty of interment has criminal
charges pending against him or her for the unlawful killing of the
decedent, in violation of Section 187 of, or subdivision (a) or (b)
of Section 192 of, the Penal Code, the person or persons with the
next highest priority prescribed by Section 7100 may petition a court
of competent jurisdiction for an order for control of the
disposition of the decedent's remains. For this purpose, it shall be
conclusively presumed that the petitioner is the person entitled to
control the disposition of the remains if the petitioner is next in
the order of priority specified in Section 7100.
