A bill for an act relating to the final disposition of remains.

2025-2026 Regular Session

Aligns who may control final disposition with designee-eligibility rules, barring anyone ineligible to serve as a designee from handling or arranging the decedent's ceremony.

Committee report approving bill, renumbered as HF 363.

#decedents #mortality

Overview

Bill: HSB 16, “A bill for an act relating to the final disposition of remains”

Status: Committee report approving bill; renumbered as HF 363

Introduced: January 15, 2025

Committee: Judiciary

Purpose: Clarify and regulate who has the right to control the final disposition of a decedent’s remains and to ensure that such rights are not vested in individuals who are legally prohibited from serving as a designee under existing designee rules.

What the bill would do

Establishment and clarification of the governing framework for who may control final disposition and arrange ceremonial aspects after a death.

The right to control final disposition vests in and devolves upon certain competent adults at the time of death, in a defined order (the bill amends the current language to reflect this structure).

The bill adds a new prohibition: a person who is prohibited from acting as a designee under section 144C.8 cannot have the right to control final disposition or to arrange the ceremony vest in them.

The explanatory material clarifies that the bill excludes from eligibility anyone who would be ineligible to serve as a designee under a decedent’s own declaration.

Key provisions (highlights)

Section 144C.5, subsection 1 (amended): Reaffirms that, with limited exceptions, competent adults have the right to control final disposition or arrange related ceremonies after death, following the statute’s specified order.

NEW SUBSECTION 4 (added): The right to control final disposition shall not vest in or devolve upon a person prohibited from acting as a designee per 144C.8.

Explanatory note: The bill excludes from eligibility any person who would be ineligible to serve as a designee under a decedent’s declaration, aligning disposition-control eligibility with designee eligibility rules.

Who is affected

Decedents and their remains

Persons who would otherwise have the right to control final disposition or arrange ceremonies (per the statutory order)

Individuals who would be prohibited from acting as a designee under section 144C.8 (and thus would be ineligible to be the final-disposition designee)

The change ensures alignment between designee eligibility rules and who may control disposition

Procedural and timeline aspects

Introduced: January 15, 2025

Subcommittee: January 16–21, 2025 (meeting set for January 21, 2025)

Subcommittee recommendation: January 21, 2025

Committee action: January 28, 2025 (committee vote: Yeas 21, Nays 0)

Committee report: January 28, 2025 (recommending passage)

Committee report approval: February 12, 2025 (bill renumbered to HF 363)

Potential impact

Clarifies and potentially narrows eligibility for those who can control disposition by tying it to designee eligibility

Aims to reduce disputes by ensuring only legally eligible individuals can influence final disposition decisions

Maintains decedent autonomy by preserving a defined order of eligible adults, subject to the designee-eligibility constraint

If you’d like, I can map the likely priority order of eligible responders (as it appears in the current 144C.5 language) and compare it to typical prior-law order, once the exact text is available.

Bill