The board of county commissioners of any county within this state may authorize payment for the burial or cremation of an unclaimed decedent, as defined in Section 24-13-1 NMSA 1978. All available assets of the deceased may be used to reimburse the county for the cost of burial or cremation. Should the county be required to pay expenses for burial or cremation of an unclaimed decedent who has left an estate, the estate shall reimburse the county for those expenses. The county commissioners may be liable officially to the county they represent in double the amount they have paid toward the burial or cremation of a person other than as authorized by this section. History: Laws 1939, ch. 224, § 5; 1941 Comp., § 73-208; 1953 Comp., § 13-2-8; 1978 Comp., § 24-13-5; Laws 1999, ch. 241, § 8; 2023, ch. 162, § 12. The 2023 amendment, effective July 1, 2023, added discretionary language related to a county's liability for unauthorized burial or cremation of a person; and after "The county commissioners", deleted "shall" and added "may". The 1999 amendment, effective June 18, 1999, rewrote the section which formerly read "If the board of county commissioners of any county within this state shall pay to any person any sum purporting to be for the burial of an indigent person when in fact such deceased person was known by the board of county commissioners to be not an indigent, as above defined, said county commissioners shall be liable either personally or officially to the county which they represent in double the amount which they have paid".
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