45-1-107. Evidence of death or status.

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A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.

In addition to the rules of evidence in courts of general jurisdiction, the following rules relating to a determination of death and status apply:

A. in accordance with Subsection A of Section 12-2-4 NMSA 1978, death occurs when an individual has sustained either:

(1)irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions; or

(2)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;

B. an 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;

C. an authenticated copy of a 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;

D. in the absence of prima facie evidence of death pursuant to Subsections B or C of this section, the fact of death may be established by clear and convincing evidence, including circumstantial evidence;

E. an individual whose death is not established pursuant to Subsection A, B, C or D of this section who is absent for a continuous period of five years, during which the person has not been heard from and whose absence is not satisfactorily explained after diligent search or inquiry is presumed to be dead. The person's death is presumed to have occurred at the end of the period unless there is sufficient evidence for determining that death occurred earlier; and

F. in the absence of evidence disputing the time of death stated on a document described in Subsection B or C of this section, a document described in Subsection B or C of this section 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.

History: 1953 Comp., § 32A-1-107, enacted by Laws 1975, ch. 257, § 1-107; repealed and reenacted by Laws 1993, ch. 174, § 3; 2011, ch. 124, § 3.