Oklahoma § 56-54 - Sickness or death of poor stranger

§ 56-54. Sickness or death of poor stranger

A. It shall be the duty of the overseers of the poor, on

complaint made to them that any person not an inhabitant of their

county is lying sick therein or in distress, without friends or

money, so that he will likely suffer, to examine into the case of

such person and grant such temporary relief as the nature of the

same may require; and if any person shall die within any county, who

shall not have money or means necessary to defray his funeral

expenses, it shall be the duty of the overseers of the poor of such

county to employ some person to provide for and superintend the

burial of such deceased person. Public cemeteries shall provide a

burial plot at no cost at the request of the overseers of the poor

or the person employed by the overseers of the poor to provide for

and superintend the burial. Public cemeteries shall also provide

the service of opening and closing the grave for the purpose of

interring the remains of the poor or indigent person. The overseers

of the poor of each county shall establish the necessary and

reasonable expenses of the opening and closing services which shall

be paid by the county treasurer upon the order of such overseers.

B. As used in this section, "public cemeteries" means

cemeteries located in any county with a population of three hundred

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 56. Poor Persons

thousand (300,000) or more, according to the latest Federal

Decennial Census, which sell burial plots to the general public and

which are exempt from taxation under the laws of this state.

"Public cemeteries" shall not include any municipal, fraternal,

religious, rural, community, township, state, county or nonprofit

cooperative cemeteries, or free community burial grounds.

R.L. 1910, § 4548. Amended by Laws 1993, c. 2, § 1, eff. Sept. 1,

1993.