§560:1-107  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 has sustained
either:



(A)  Irreversible cessation of circulatory and
respiratory functions; or



(B)  Irreversible cessation of all functions of
the entire brain, including the brain stem.  A determination of death must be
made in accordance with accepted medical standards;



(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), the fact of death may be established by clear and
convincing evidence, including circumstantial evidence;



(5)  An individual whose death is not established
under the preceding paragraphs who is absent for a continuous period of five
years, during which the individual has not been heard from, and whose absence
is not satisfactorily explained after diligent search or inquiry, is presumed
to be dead.  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 stated on a document described in paragraph (2) or (3), a document
described in paragraph (2) or (3) that states a time of death one hundred
twenty 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 one
hundred twenty hours. [L 1996, c 288, pt of §1]



 



Rules of Court



 



  Determination of death, see HPR rules 150 to 154.