WEST virginia Legislature
2016 regular session
Introduced
House Bill 4380
By Delegates Ellington, Summers, Rohrbach and Stansbury
[Introduced February 3,
2016; Referred
to the Committee on Health and Human Resources then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §9-5-9 and §9-5-18 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, all relating to liability of spouses or relatives for support, defining terms, requiring financial information, setting amount to be paid for indigent funeral service expenses, limiting number of indigent funeral services to be paid by the department in any state fiscal year; and redefining funeral service expenses to mean expenses for cremation unless objectionable pursuant to decedent’s religion or otherwise prohibited by federal law, state law or regulation.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That § 9-5-9 and § 9-5-18 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS.
§9-5-9. Liability of spouse or relatives for support.
The relatives of an
indigent person, who are of sufficient ability, shall be liable to support such
person in the manner required by the Department of welfare Health and
Human Resources and to pay the expenses of burial funeral
services when he or she dies, in the following order:
(1) The spouse.
(1) (2) The children.
(2) (3) The father.
(3) (4) The brothers and sisters.
(4) (5) The mother.
The commissioner department
may proceed by motion in the circuit court of the county in which the indigent
person may be, against one or more of the relatives liable.
If a relative so liable does not reside in this state and has no estate or debts due him or her within the state by means of which the liability can be enforced against him or her, the other relatives shall be liable as provided by this section, but a relative shall not be compelled to receive the indigent person in his or her own home.
If it appears that a
relative liable for the support of an indigent person is unable wholly to
support him or her, but is able to contribute toward his or her
support, the court may assess upon the relative the proportion which he or
she shall be required to contribute either to the past expense incurred by
the Department of welfare Health and Human Resources or to the
future support. The court may assess the residue upon the relatives in the
order of their liability.
Payment with interest and costs may be enforced by execution.
§9-5-18. Funeral service
expenses for indigent persons; filing of affidavit and other financial
information to certify indigency; penalties for false swearing; payment by division
department.
(a) The Department of
Health and Human Resources shall pay no more than $1,000 for reasonable
funeral service expenses for indigent persons. in an amount not to exceed
$1,250
(b) For purposes of this
section, the indigency of a deceased person, heir or heirs-at-law is
determined by the filing of an affidavit with the department, in a form
provided by and determined in accordance with the income guidelines as set
forth by the department, as well as any other supporting financial
information including, but not limited to, bank statements and income tax
information of the deceased person, heir or heirs-at-law required by the
department. The affidavit shall be: (1) Signed by the heir or heirs-at-law which
states and state that the estate of the deceased person is
pecuniarily unable to pay the costs associated with a funeral and that the
sole or combined assets of the heir or heirs-at-law are not sufficient to pay
for the funeral expenses of the deceased person; or (2) signed by the
county coroner or the county health officer, the attending physician or other
person signing the death certificate or the state medical examiner stating that
the deceased person has no heirs or that heirs have not been located after a
reasonable search and that the deceased person had no estate or the estate is
pecuniarily unable to pay the costs associated with a funeral.
(c) Payment shall be made by the department to the person or persons who have furnished the services and supplies for the indigent persons funeral service expenses or to the persons who have advanced payment for same, as the department may determine, pursuant to appropriations for expenditures made by the Legislature for such purpose: Provided, That, under no circumstances may the department pay for more than two thousand indigent funeral services in any state fiscal year.
(d) For purposes of this
section, reasonable “funeral service expenses” means expenses for cremation
services provided by a funeral director for the disposition of human remains:
Provided, That, no cremation may be made of the decedent if
objectionable pursuant to decedent’s religion or otherwise prohibited by
federal law, state law or regulation, in which case, alternate funeral service
expenses shall be substituted.
(e) For purposes of this section, “spouse” means the person to whom the decedent was legally married at the time of decedent’s death and who survived the decedent.
(e) (f) Any person who knowingly swears falsely in
an affidavit required by this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and,
upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $1,000 or confined in the
county or regional jail for a period of not more than six months, or both.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to amend current code to: (1) Add the spouse of an indigent person as a possible individual who may be liable for the funeral service expenses of the indigent person; (2) reduce the maximum amount of what the DHHR pays for funeral service expenses from $1,250.00 to $1,000.00; (3) require certain financial information be provided regarding the deceased, heirs or heirs-at-law in order for a determination to be made regarding whether assets of the deceased and/or heirs or heirs-at-law are sufficient to pay the funeral service expenses of the indigent person; (4) limit the department’s obligation to only pay for 2,000 indigent funeral services in any state fiscal year; and, (5) limit or redefine funeral service expenses to mean expenses for cremation unless objectionable pursuant to decedent’s religion or otherwise prohibited by federal law, state law or regulation.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.