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1 | AN ACT concerning civil law.
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2 | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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3 | represented in the General Assembly:
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4 | Section 5. The Disposition of Remains Act is amended by | ||||||
5 | changing Section 5 as follows: | ||||||
6 | (755 ILCS 65/5)
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7 | Sec. 5. Right to control disposition; priority. Unless a | ||||||
8 | decedent has left directions in writing for the disposition or | ||||||
9 | designated an agent to direct the disposition of the decedent's | ||||||
10 | remains as provided in Section 65 of the Crematory Regulation | ||||||
11 | Act or in subsection (a) of Section 40 of this Act, the | ||||||
12 | following persons, in the priority listed, have the right to | ||||||
13 | control the disposition, including cremation, of the | ||||||
14 | decedent's remains and are liable for the reasonable costs of | ||||||
15 | the disposition: | ||||||
16 | (1) the person designated in a written instrument that | ||||||
17 | satisfies the provisions of Sections 10 and 15 of this Act;
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18 | (2) any person serving as executor or legal | ||||||
19 | representative of the decedent's estate and acting | ||||||
20 | according to the decedent's written instructions contained | ||||||
21 | in the decedent's will;
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22 | (3) the individual who was the spouse of the decedent | ||||||
23 | at the time of the decedent's death;
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1 | (4) the sole surviving competent adult child of the | ||||||
2 | decedent, or if there is more than one surviving competent | ||||||
3 | adult child of the decedent, the majority of the surviving | ||||||
4 | competent adult children; however, less than one-half of | ||||||
5 | the surviving adult children shall be vested with the | ||||||
6 | rights and duties of this Section if they have used | ||||||
7 | reasonable efforts to notify all other surviving competent | ||||||
8 | adult children of their instructions and are not aware of | ||||||
9 | any opposition to those instructions on the part of more | ||||||
10 | than one-half of all surviving competent adult children;
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11 | (5) the surviving competent parents of the decedent; if | ||||||
12 | one of the surviving competent parents is absent, the | ||||||
13 | remaining competent parent shall be vested with the rights | ||||||
14 | and duties of this Act after reasonable efforts have been | ||||||
15 | unsuccessful in locating the absent surviving competent | ||||||
16 | parent;
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17 | (6) the surviving competent adult person or persons | ||||||
18 | respectively in the next degrees of kindred or, if there is | ||||||
19 | more than one surviving competent adult person of the same | ||||||
20 | degree of kindred, the majority of those persons; less than | ||||||
21 | the majority of surviving competent adult persons of the | ||||||
22 | same degree of kindred shall be vested with the rights and | ||||||
23 | duties of this Act if those persons have used reasonable | ||||||
24 | efforts to notify all other surviving competent adult | ||||||
25 | persons of the same degree of kindred of their instructions | ||||||
26 | and are not aware of any opposition to those instructions |
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1 | on the part of one-half or more of all surviving competent | ||||||
2 | adult persons of the same degree of kindred;
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3 | (7) in the case of indigents or any other individuals | ||||||
4 | whose final disposition is the responsibility of the State | ||||||
5 | or any of its instrumentalities, a public administrator, | ||||||
6 | medical examiner, coroner, State appointed guardian, or | ||||||
7 | any other public official charged with arranging the final | ||||||
8 | disposition of the decedent;
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9 | (8) in the case of individuals who have donated their | ||||||
10 | bodies to science, or whose death occurred in a nursing | ||||||
11 | home or other private institution, who have executed | ||||||
12 | cremation authorization forms under Section 65 of the | ||||||
13 | Crematory Regulation Act and the institution is charged | ||||||
14 | with making arrangements for the final disposition of the | ||||||
15 | decedent, a representative of the institution; or
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16 | (9) any other person or organization that is willing to | ||||||
17 | assume legal and financial responsibility.
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18 | As used in Section, "adult" means any individual who has | ||||||
19 | reached his or her eighteenth birthday.
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20 | Nothwithstanding provisions to the contrary, in the case of | ||||||
21 | decedents who die while serving as members of the United States | ||||||
22 | Armed Forces, the Illinois National Guard, or the United States | ||||||
23 | Reserved Forces, as defined in Section 1481 of Title 10 of the | ||||||
24 | United States Code, and who have executed the required U.S. | ||||||
25 | Department of Defense Record of Emergency Data Form (DD Form | ||||||
26 | 93), or successor form, the person designated in such form to |
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1 | direct disposition of the decedent's remains shall have the | ||||||
2 | right to control the disposition, including cremation, of the | ||||||
3 | decedent's remains. | ||||||
4 | (Source: P.A. 94-561, eff. 1-1-06; 94-1051, eff. 7-24-06.)
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5 | Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | ||||||
6 | becoming law.
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