2013 Louisiana Laws
Revised Statutes
TITLE 9 - Civil Code-Ancillaries
RS 9:1551 - Burial of unclaimed bodies

PART II. BURIAL OF UNCLAIMED BODIES;

ADMINISTRATION OF SUCCESSIONS OF $500 OR LESS

§1551. Burial of unclaimed bodies

A.(1) Upon oral or written refusal by next of kin, as provided in R.S. 8:655, to bury a decedent, the coroner is authorized to immediately release the remains of the decedent to any interested party who will claim the remains and provide interment for the remains.

(2) The coroner shall have custody of the bodies of all persons who die within the parish and whose bodies are not claimed by friends or relatives. If the decedent had no known property or assets of a sufficient value to defray the expenses of burial, the coroner shall make such disposition of the body of the decedent as is otherwise provided by law for indigents.

B. If a decedent's body is unclaimed by friends or relatives and the decedent had known assets or property of a sufficient value to defray the expenses of burial, the coroner shall cause the body to be interred within thirty days, preferably by a recognized funeral home. The invoices for the expenses of the burial shall be forwarded to the public administrator if there is one in the parish or to the clerk of the district court if there is no public administrator, and the person or official authorized by law to be appointed administrator of the succession of the decedent shall provide for the payment of the burial expenses out of the assets of the decedent in accordance with the existing provisions of law for the administration of successions and in accordance with the provisions of this Part.

Added by Acts 1963, No. 92, §1; Acts 2001, No. 326, §1; Acts 2010, No. 175, §2.