As Amended by House Committee
[As Further Amended by Senate Committee of the
Whole]
As Amended by Senate Committee
Session of 2000
SENATE BILL No. 556
By Committee on Public Health and Welfare
2-2
13 AN ACT
concerning the right to control the disposition of a decedent's
14 remains.
15
16 Be it enacted by the Legislature of the
State of Kansas:
17 Section
1. (a) The following persons, in order of priority
stated, when
18 persons in prior classes are
unavailable at time of death, may order any
19 lawful manner of final disposition of a
decedent's remains including bur-
20 ial, cremation, entombment or anatomical
donation:
21 (1) The
agent [The individual who,
at the time of death of the
22 decedent acted as
attorney-in-fact] agent for health care
decisions
23 established by a durable power of attorney
for health care decisions pur-
24 suant to K.S.A. 58-625, et seq., and
amendments thereto, if such power
25 of attorney conveys to the agent the
authority to make decisions con-
26 cerning disposition of the deceased's
body;
27 (2) the spouse of
the decedent;
28 (3) the
decedent's surviving adult children. If there is more than one
29 adult child, any adult child who confirms
in writing the notification of all
30 other adult children may serve as
the authorizing agent direct the man-
31 ner of disposition unless the
funeral establishment or crematory au-
32 thority receives written objection to the
cremation manner of disposi-
33 tion from another adult
child;
34 (4) the
decedent's surviving parents;
35 (5) the persons
in the next degree of kinship under the laws of de-
36 scent and distribution to inherit the
estate of the deceased. If there is
37 more than one person of the same degree,
any person of that degree may
38 direct the manner of disposition;
39 (6) a guardian of
the person of the decedent at the time of such
40 person's death;
41 (7) the personal
representative of the deceased; or
42 (8) in the case
of indigents or any other individuals whose final dis-
43 position is the responsibility of the state
or county, the public official
2
1 charged with arranging the final
disposition pursuant to K.S.A. 1999 Supp.
2 22a-215 and amendments thereto.
3 (b) A
funeral director, funeral establishment or crematory shall not
4 be subject to criminal prosecution or
civil liability for carrying out the
5 otherwise lawful instructions of the
decedent or the person or persons
6 under this section
subsection (a) if the funeral director reasonably
be-
7 lieves such person is entitled to
control final disposition.
8 Sec. 2. This act
shall take effect and be in force from and after its
9 publication in the statute book.