§ 23-4-10 - Disposition of deceased bodies.
SECTION 23-4-10
§ 23-4-10 Disposition of deceased bodies.– (a) The office of state medical examiners shall, after any postmortemexamination or any autopsy, promptly release the deceased body to therelatives, representatives or domestic partners of the deceased. The cost oftransporting the deceased body to a mortuary within the state of the relatives'or domestic partner's choice shall be borne by the state if the autopsy wasrequired to be performed as provided in this chapter. If there are no knownrelatives, representatives or domestic partners, the office of state medicalexaminers, after reasonable public notices, shall cause the body of thedeceased person to be buried. The general treasurer of the state shall havefirst priority in recovering the expenses of burial from the estate of thedeceased person.
(b) For the purpose of this chapter, "domestic partner" shallbe defined as a person who, prior to the decedent's death, was in an exclusive,intimate and committed relationship with the decedent, and who certifies byaffidavit that their relationship met the following qualifications:
(1) Both partners were at least eighteen (18) years of ageand were mentally competent to contract;
(2) Neither partner is married to anyone else;
(3) Partners were not related by blood to a degree whichwould prohibit marriage in the state of Rhode Island;
(4) Partners resided together and had resided together for atleast one year at the time of death; and
(5) Partners were financially interdependent as evidenced byat least two (2) of the following:
(i) Domestic partnership agreement or relationship contract;
(ii) Joint mortgage or joint ownership of primary residence;
(iii) Two (2) of the following:
(A) Joint ownership of motor vehicle;
(B) Joint checking account;
(C) Joint credit account;
(D) Joint lease; and/or
(iv) The domestic partner had been designated as abeneficiary for the decedent's will, retirement contract or life insurance.