South Carolina § 32-8-320 - Persons who may serve as a decedent's agent; authorize cremation.

§ 32-8-320. Persons who may serve as a decedent's agent; authorize cremation.

(A) In the following order of priority these persons may serve as a decedent's agent and in the absence of a preneed cremation authorization may authorize cremation of the decedent:

(1) the person designated as agent for this purpose by the decedent in a will or other verified and attested document, or a person named in the decedent's United States Department of Defense Record of Emergency Data Form (DD Form 93), or its successor form, if the decedent died while serving in any branch of the United States Armed Services, as defined in 10 U.S.C. Section 1481, and there is no known designation in a will or other verified and attested document of the decedent;

(2) the spouse of the decedent, unless the spouse and the decedent are separated pursuant to one of the following:

(a) entry of a pendente lite order in a divorce or separate maintenance action;

(b) formal signing of a written property or marital settlement agreement;

(c) entry of a permanent order of separate maintenance and support or of a permanent order approving a property or marital settlement agreement between the spouse and the decedent;

(3) the decedent's surviving adult children;

(4) the decedent's surviving parents;

(5) adult siblings of the decedent;

(6) the adult grandchildren of the decedent;

(7) the grandparents of the decedent;

(8) the person appointed by the probate court as the guardian; and

(9) any other person authorized or under obligation by law to dispose of the body.

(B) If there is more than one member of a class listed in subsection (A)(1), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), or (9) entitled to authorize the cremation of the decedent, the authorization to cremate may be made by a member of the class unless the member knows of an objection by another member within the class. If an objection is known, the authorization to cremate only may be made by a majority of the members of the class who are reasonably available.

(C) A person may not execute an authorization to cremate if a person in a prior class is reasonably available to make or object to the execution of the authorization to cremate the decedent.

(D) In the absence of a person serving as a decedent's agent pursuant to subsection (A), the following may serve as an agent and may authorize a decedent's cremation:

(1) a person serving as executor or legal representative of the decedent's estate;

(2) a public administrator, medical examiner, coroner, state appointed guardian, or other public official charged with arranging the final disposition of the decedent if the decedent is indigent or if the final disposition is the responsibility of the State or an instrumentality of the State; or

(3) the adult who exhibited special care and concern for the decedent.

(E) If a dispute arises among persons of equal priority, as provided for in subsection (A), concerning the cremation of a decedent, the matter must be resolved by order of the probate court.

(F) If a funeral home handling funeral arrangements for a decedent transfers the decedent's body to another funeral home solely for cremation purposes, the funeral home performing the cremation may, in good faith, rely on a cremation authorization document executed at the funeral home handling the funeral arrangements.

HISTORY: 1994 Act No. 435, SECTION 1; 1998 Act No. 346, SECTION 1; 2010 Act No. 221, SECTION 1, eff June 8, 2010; 2012 Act No. 138, SECTION 1, eff April 2, 2012.

Effect of Amendment

The 2010 amendment in subsection (A)(1) added the second clause relating to United States Department of Defense Record of Emergency.

The 2012 amendment rewrote this section.