Section 34-26-16 - Persons charged with duty of burial--Grave marker. - South Dakota Statutes

34-26-16. Persons charged with duty of burial--Grave marker. The duty of burying the body of a deceased person and providing the grave with a permanent concrete, metal anchored in concrete, or stone marker devolves upon the persons hereinafter specified:
(1) If the decedent was married the duty of burial devolves upon the husband or wife;
(2) If the decedent was not married but left any kindred, the duty of burial devolves upon the person or persons in the same degree nearest of kin to the decedent, being of adult age, and within this state and possessed of sufficient means to defray the necessary expenses;
(3) If the decedent left no husband or wife nor kindred answering the foregoing description, the duty of burial devolves upon the coroner conducting an inquest upon the body of the decedent, if any such inquest is held; if none, then upon the person charged with the support of the poor in the locality in which the death occurs.

Source: PenC 1877, § 355; CL 1887, § 6556; RPenC 1903, § 360; RC 1919, § 3874; SDC 1939, § 27.1303; SL 1963, ch 153.