2017 District of Columbia Code
Title 19 - Descent, Distribution, and Trusts. [Enacted title]
Chapter 5 - Simultaneous Deaths; Uniform Law.
§ 19–505. Evidence of death or status.

In addition to the rules of evidence, the following rules relating to a determination of death and status apply:

(1) Death occurs when an individual is determined to be dead under section 7-601.

(2) A certified or authenticated copy of a death certificate purporting to be issued by an official or agency of the place where the death purportedly occurred is prima facie evidence of the fact, place, date, and time of death and the identity of the decedent.

(3) A certified or authenticated copy of any record or report of a governmental agency, domestic or foreign, that an individual is missing, detained, dead, or alive is prima facie evidence of the status and of the dates, circumstances, and places disclosed by the record or report.

(4) In the absence of prima facie evidence of death under paragraph (2) or (3) of this subsection, the fact of death may be established by clear and convincing evidence, including circumstantial evidence.

(5) If an individual is presumed to be dead under section 14-701, the individual’s death is presumed to have occurred at the end of the period unless there is sufficient evidence for determining that death occurred earlier.

(6) In the absence of evidence disputing the time of death stipulated on a document described in paragraph (2) or (3) of this subsection, a document described in paragraph (2) or (3) that stipulates a time of death 120 hours or more after the time of death of another individual, however the time of death of the other individual is determined, establishes by clear and convincing evidence that the individual survived the other individual by 120 hours.

(Apr. 27, 2001, D.C. Law 13-292, § 202, 48 DCR 2087.)

1981 Ed., § 19-505.

1973 Ed., § 19-505.

This section was previously enacted by section 1 of Public Law 89-183, 79 Stat. 700, but repealed by implication by D.C. Law 13-292.

Uniform Law: This section is based upon § 5 of the Uniform Simultaneous Death Act (1993 Act).