HB 1528

Present law requires the right to institute and the right to collect any proceeds from a wrongful death action granted to a surviving spouse to be waived if the children or next of kin establish that the surviving spouse has abandoned the deceased spouse or otherwise willfully withdrawn for a period of two years. "Abandonment, as used in such provision, means t he husband or wife has abandoned the spouse or turned the spouse out of doors for no just cause, and has refused or neglected to provide for the s pouse while having the ability to so provide . If the two-year period has passed since the time of abandonment or willful withdrawal, then there is a rebuttable presumption that the surviving spouse abandoned the deceased spouse. This bill increases the amount of time that must pass from two years to, instead, three years. Present law requires, i n an action described above, the child or next of kin to serve the surviving spouse with process as provided in the rules of civil procedure or by constructive service as may otherwise be provided by law. This bill adds that process may also be served by substituted service. ""PERSON"" DEFINED As used in the provisions above, present law defines "" person "" to include an unborn child at any stage of gestation in utero. This bill removes this definition and provides, instead, that a ""person"" includes an unborn child, which is an individual organism of the species homo sapiens, beginning at fertilization, until the point of being born alive as defined in federal law. Federal law provides that "" born alive, with respect to a member of the species homo sapiens, means the complete expulsion or extract ion from his or her mother, at any stage of development, who after such expulsion or extraction breathes or has a beating heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles, regardless of whether the umbilical cord has been cut, and regardless of whether the expulsion or extraction occurs as a result of natural or induced labor, cesarean section, or induced abortion."