Rhode Island General Assembly Overrides Governor Veto & Gives Domestic Partners Funeral Planning Rights

On Jan. 5, 2010, the Rhode Island General Assembly successfully voted to override the governor’s veto of a bill relating to funeral planning rights of domestic partners.  As a result, if person dies in Rhode island without a funeral arrangement contract in effect, a domestic partner is one of the priority persons authorized to make such arrangements.  

The statute defines a domestic partner “as a person who, prior to the decedent’s death, was in an exclusive, intimate and committed relationship with the decedent, and who certifies by affidavit that their relationship,” and meets other specific requirements. S.B. 0195 Substitute B.

See also AP, Rhode Island lawmakers back funeral rights for gays, USA Today, Jan. 6, 2010, and my prior post regarding the governor’s veto.