Section 36-12-5. Interment or cremation of deceased indigents

   (a) Whenever any person dies in this state and the decedent, his or her family, and his or her immediate kindred are indigent and unable to provide for the decedent's decent interment or cremation, the governing authority of the county wherein the death occurs shall make available from county funds a sum sufficient to provide a decent interment or cremation of the deceased indigent person or to reimburse such person as may have expended the cost thereof voluntarily, the exact amount thereof to be determined by the governing authority of the county but shall not exceed the lesser of the actual costs of interment or cremation.

(b) The Department of Corrections is authorized to reimburse the governing authority of the county where expenditures have been made in accordance with this Code section for the burial or cremation of any inmate under the authority, jurisdiction, or control of the Department of Corrections; but in no case shall the governing authority of the county be entitled to reimbursement where the decedent was in the custody of a county correctional institution or other county correctional facility.

Ga. L. 1863-64, p. 60, § 1; Code 1868, § 788; Code 1873, § 766; Code 1882, § 766; Civil Code 1895, § 441; Civil Code 1910, § 556; Code 1933, § 23-2304; Ga. L. 1967, p. 616, § 1; Ga. L. 1972, p. 971, § 1; Ga. L. 1974, p. 616, § 1; Ga. L. 1978, p. 1048, § 1; Ga. L. 1980, p. 722, § 1; Ga. L. 1982, p. 2107, § 34; Ga. L. 1983, p. 3, § 27; Ga. L. 1985, p. 265, § 1; Ga. L. 1985, p. 283, § 1; Ga. L. 1991, p. 431, §§ 1, 2; Ga. L. 2013, p. 669, § 1/SB 83.