Matter of Melissa Ann Wire

Case Number

24PR00446

Case Type

Hearing Date / Time

Mon, 08/12/2024 - 08:30

Nature of Proceedings

Petition to Establish Fact, Time, and Place of Death

Tentative Ruling

Probate Notes:

Appearances required.  The following is noted for the Court:

It is unclear why the Petitioner believes this procedure is necessary to establish the Fact, Time, and Place of Death.  Petitioner is the County Coroner, which is the exact agency responsible for establishing the Fact, Time, and Place of Death for all deaths in the County of Santa Barbara.  There are no allegations in the petition that reveal why the County Coroner cannot establish the Fact, Time, and Place of Death, and to the contrary, there are facts in the Petition and accompanying declaration that show the coroner has enough evidence to establish such facts without Court intervention.

Further problematic is whether the County Coroner has standing to even bring this petition, because the statute that grants this Court authority to hear and rule on this petition only creates standing for the Coroner in cases of “Mass Fatalities,” of which this death does not qualify according to the definition in the statute:

For purposes of this chapter, “mass fatalities incident” means a situation in which any of the following conditions exist:

(1)  There are more dead bodies than can be handled using local resources.

(2)  Numerous persons are known to have died, but no bodies were recovered from the site of the incident.

(3)  Numerous persons are known to have died, but the recovery and identification of the bodies of those persons is impracticable or impossible.

(Hlth. & Saf. Code, §103451(a).)

There is no caselaw on this issue, but a reading of the plain language of the statute reveals two issues.  First, Coroner appears to only have standing to bring such a petition when there is a mass fatality incident (for which this event does not qualify).  And second, there is no showing by the Coroner why the death of either of the deceased persons “is not registered or for which a certified copy is not obtainable.” (Hlth. & Saf. Code, §103450(a).)

In fact, the Coroner basically admits they are the reason why the Death Certificate is not available (i.e. because they won’t issue one!).

Thus, it is recommended the Petition be denied.