Missouri Laws 194.245 – Gift for transplantation, therapy, research, or education, priority list ..
1. Subject to subsections 2 and 3 of this section and unless barred by section 194.235 or 194.240, an anatomical gift of a decedent‘s body or part for purposes of transplantation, therapy, research, or education may be made in the order of priority listed, by any member of the following classes of persons who is reasonably available, in the order of priority listed:
(1) An agent of the decedent at the time of death who could have made an anatomical gift under subdivision (2) of subsection 2 of section 194.220 immediately before the decedent’s death;
Terms Used In Missouri Laws 194.245
- Decedent: A deceased person.
- following: when used by way of reference to any section of the statutes, mean the section next preceding or next following that in which the reference is made, unless some other section is expressly designated in the reference. See Missouri Laws 1.020
- Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
- person: may extend and be applied to bodies politic and corporate, and to partnerships and other unincorporated associations. See Missouri Laws 1.020
(2) The spouse of the decedent;
(3) Adult children of the decedent;
(4) Parents of the decedent;
(5) Adult siblings of the decedent;
(6) Adult grandchildren of the decedent;
(7) Grandparents of the decedent;
(8) The persons who were acting as the guardian of the person of the decedent at the time of death; and
(9) Any other public official having the authority to dispose of the decedent’s body.
2. If there is more than one member of a class listed in subdivision (1), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), or (9) of subsection 1 of this section entitled to make an anatomical gift, an anatomical gift may be made by a member of the class unless that member or a person to which the gift can pass under section 194.255 knows of an objection by another member of the class. If an objection is known, the gift may be made only by a majority of the members of the class who are reasonably available.
3. A person may not make an anatomical gift if, at the time of the decedent’s death, a person in a prior class under subsection 1 of this section is reasonably available to make or to object to the making of an anatomical gift.