Senate Bill No. 623

(By Senator Rowe)

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[Introduced February 17, 2003; referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.]

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A BILL to amend article five, chapter forty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section one-a, relating to providing record notice of a person's death by filing a death certificate and will, if any, with the clerk of the county commission without commencing the probate of the estate.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article five, chapter forty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section one-a, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5. PRODUCTION, PROBATE AND RECORD OF WILLS.

§41-5-1a. Record notice of a person's death by filing a death certificate and will, if any.

Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the contrary, a death certificate and a will, if any, of a person who was a resident of the county or who owned property in the county at the time of death,
may be filed with the clerk of the county commission, for the purposes of providing record notice of the person's death. The filing of a death certificate and a will, if any, does not commence probate of the person's estate.



NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide record notice of a person's death by filing a death certificate and will, if any, with the clerk of the county commission without commencing the probate of the estate.


This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.