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1     AN ACT concerning civil law.
 
2     Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3 represented in the General Assembly:
 
4     Section 5. The Disposition of Remains Act is amended by
5 changing Section 5 as follows:
 
6     (755 ILCS 65/5)
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;
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;
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;
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;
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;
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;
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
16         (9) any other person or organization that is willing to
17     assume legal and financial responsibility.
18     As used in Section, "adult" means any individual who has
19 reached his or her eighteenth birthday.
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.)
 
5     Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
6 becoming law.