Bill Text: NC H455 | 2017-2018 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Combine Funeral and Grave Expense Allowances
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2017-05-25 - Ref To Com On Rules and Operations of the Senate [H455 Detail]
Download: North_Carolina-2017-H455-Amended.html
GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2017
H 2
HOUSE BILL 455
Committee Substitute Favorable 5/16/17
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Short Title: Combine Funeral and Grave Expense Allowances. |
(Public) |
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Sponsors: |
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Referred to: |
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March 27, 2017
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to combine the second and third classes of claims against the estate of a decedent and to combine the allowable amounts for funeral expenses, gravestones, and a burial place to equal five thousand dollars.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.(a) G.S. 28A‑19‑6(a) reads as rewritten:
"§ 28A‑19‑6. Order of payment of claims.
(a) After payment of costs and expenses of administration, the claims against the estate of a decedent must be paid in the following order:
(1) First class. Claims which by law have a
specific lien on property to an amount not exceeding the value of such
property.
(2) Second class. Funeral expenses Funeral
expenses, costs associated with gravestones, and reasonable costs for the
purchase of a suitable burial place as provided in G.S. 28A‑19‑9
to the extent of three five thousand five hundred dollars
($3,500). This limitation shall not include burial place or gravestone. ($5,000).
The preferential limitation herein granted shall be construed to be only a
limit with respect to preference of payment and shall not be construed to be a
limitation on reasonable funeral expenses which may be incurred; nor
shall the preferential limitation of payment in the amount of three thousand
five hundred dollars ($3,500) be diminished by any Veterans Administration,
social security or other federal governmental benefits awarded to the estate of
the decedent or to the decedent's beneficiaries.
Third class. Costs associated
with gravestones and reasonable costs for the purchase of a suitable burial
place as provided in G.S. 28A‑19‑9 to the extent of one thousand
five hundred dollars ($1,500). The preferential limitation herein granted shall
be construed to be only a limit with respect to preference of payment and shall
not be construed to be a limitation on reasonable gravestone or burial place
expenses which may be incurred; nor shall the preferential limitation of
payment in the amount of one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500) be
diminished by any Veterans Administration, social security or other federal
governmental benefits awarded to the estate of the decedent or to the
decedent's beneficiaries.
(3) Fourth class. All dues, taxes, and other
claims with preference under the laws of the United States.
(4) Fifth class. All dues, taxes, and other
claims with preference under the laws of the State of North Carolina and its
subdivisions.
(5) Sixth class. Judgments of any court of
competent jurisdiction within the State, docketed and in force, to the extent
to which they are a lien on the property of the decedent at the decedent's
death. The Department of Health and Human Services is a sixth‑class creditor
under this subdivision for purposes of determining the order of claims
against the estate; provided, however, that judgments in favor of other sixth‑class
creditors under this subdivision docketed and in force before the
Department seeks recovery for medical assistance shall be paid prior to
recovery by the Department.
(6) Seventh class. Wages due to any employee
employed by the decedent, which claim for wages shall not extend to a period of
more than 12 months next preceding the death; or if such employee was employed
for the year current at the decease, then from the time of such employment; for
medical services within the 12 months preceding the decease; for drugs and all
other medical supplies necessary for the treatment of such decedent during the
last illness of such decedent, said period of last illness not to exceed 12
months.
(7) Eighth class. A claim for equitable
distribution.
(8) Ninth class. All other claims."
SECTION 1.(b) G.S. 28A‑19‑9 reads as rewritten:
"§ 28A‑19‑9. Gravestone and burial place authorized.
(a) If the decedent has duly
appointed a health care agent pursuant to Article 3 of Chapter 32A of the
General Statutes to provide for these expenses, the health care agent may make
arrangements to provide a suitable gravestone to mark the grave of the testator
or intestate, and the personal representative shall reimburse the health care
agent subject to the monetary limitations and procedures contained in this
section. If the decedent did not have a health care agent, or if the health
care agent does not act, it is lawful for a personal representative or the
decedent's duly appointed health care agent to provide a suitable gravestone to
mark the graves of the testator or intestate and to pay for the cost of
erecting the same. The cost thereof shall be treated as a third class claim
under G.S. 28A‑19‑6 and credited as such in final accounts.
The costs thereof shall be in the sound discretion of the personal
representative or health care agent, having due regard to the value of the
estate and to the interests of creditors and needs of the surviving spouse and
the heirs and devisees of the estate. Where the personal representative or
health care agent desires to spend more than one thousand five hundred dollars
($1,500) for the purpose of a gravestone, and the will does not grant specific
authority to the personal representative for such expenditures in excess of one
thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500), the personal representative shall file
a petition before the clerk of the court, and such order as will be made by the
court shall specify the amount to be expended for such purpose. In specifying
the amount, the clerk may consider the value of the estate. To the extent that
the personal representative or health care agent advances the costs for
providing a suitable gravestone to mark the graves of the testator or intestate
and for erecting the same, the advancement shall be considered as an obligation
of the decedent's estate, and the decedent's estate shall be primarily liable
for the costs for providing a suitable gravestone to mark the graves of the
testator or intestate and for erecting the same.
(b) It is lawful for the
decedent's duly appointed health care agent to provide a suitable burial place
for the testator or intestate. If the decedent did not have a health care
agent, or if the health care agent does not act, then the personal
representative may provide a suitable burial place for the testator or
intestate. The cost of a suitable burial place shall be in the sound discretion
of the personal representative or the decedent's health care agent, having due
regard to the value of the estate and to the interests of creditors and needs
of the surviving spouse and the heirs and devisees of the estate, and shall be
treated as a third class claim under G.S. 28A‑19‑6."
SECTION 1.(c) G.S. 108A‑70.5(c) reads as rewritten:
"(c) The amount the
Department recovers from the estate of any recipient shall not exceed the
amount of medical assistance made on behalf of the recipient and shall be
recoverable only for medical care services prescribed in subsection (b) of this
section. The Department is a sixth‑class creditor, as prescribed
in G.S. 28A‑19‑6, for purposes of determining the order of
claims against an estate; provided, however, that judgments in favor of
other sixth‑class creditors docketed and in force before the Department
seeks recovery for medical assistance shall be paid prior to recovery by the
Department.estate."
SECTION 2. This act becomes effective October 1, 2017, and applies to estates of decedents dying on or after that date.
