Sign of the Times? West Virginia Runs Out of Money for Indigent Burial Program

One of my regular searches on legal research engines is for “filial support” and “indigent support.” This month that search turned up pending legislation in West Virginia that appears to be on a fast track. West Virginia House Bill No. 4380 proposes to add “spouse” to the list of family members who may be personally liable to pay funeral service expenses.  On first glance, the bill didn’t seem all that surprising to me as the bill appeared mostly to be plugging a hole in a law that already made children, father, brothers and sister, and the mother of the deceased potentially liable for such costs.  If you are going to include all of those family members, why not the spouse?

However, as I dug a little deeper, I noticed the bill also would cap state responsibility for indigent death-related services at “not more than $1,000” for cremations and “$1,250 for those who are buried.” The bill would increase the documentation of financial need, including copies of bank statements and income tax information for the deceased, before state assistance can be granted.

It turns out that these bills are sad evidence of the increased number of requests for indigent burial assistance in West Virginia.  A spokesman for the state agency supervising the program explained to legislators that the $2,050,000 fiscal year budget would “run out of money by the end of” February, 2016.”  There were already some 1,820 indigent burials in 2015.  

For more on this sign of tough times, see the West Virginia press story, “WV Burial Program for Poor to Run Out of Money.”