In Arizona, if someone dies, are survivors legally obligated to post a public notice in a local newspaper? My question pertains to law in the United States. My mother died in the state of Arizona. Some places, the executor of the estate (or someone else) is legally obligated to publish a death notice in a local newspaper. Am I legally obligated to publish an obituary, or death notice, or something like that, in the local newspaper?
The relevant statute is Arizona Revised Statutes Section 14-3801. It states: A. Unless notice has already been given under this section, at the time of appointment a personal representative shall publish a notice to creditors once a week for three successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county announcing the appointment and the personal representative's address and notifying creditors of the estate to present their claims within four months after the date of the first publication of the notice or be forever barred. B. A personal representative shall give written notice by mail or other delivery to all known creditors, notifying the creditors of the personal representative's appointment. The notice shall also notify all known creditors to present the creditor's claim within four months after the published notice, if notice is given as provided in subsection A, or within sixty days after the mailing or other delivery of the notice, whichever is later, or be forever barred. A written notice shall be the notice described in subsection A or a similar notice. C. The personal representative is not liable to a creditor or to a successor of the decedent for giving or failing to give notice under this section. So, while it is mandatory to do so, the obligation to do so arises only once you have been appointed as personal representative. Also, while the probate court could revoke your letters of appointment for not making a publication as required by statute, there is no legal liability of the personal representative to third parties for failing to do so. And, it might be possible to waive this requirement, if all creditors of the estate were barred anyway, for example, because the estate has no assets that are not exempt from creditor's claims, or because all outstanding claims which might have been brought against the estate are barred pursuant to Arizona Revised Statutes Section 14-3803 with the adjustments to the statutes of limitations of Section 14-3802.
For service by US mail, they will attach a "proof of service" to the mailed document that contains a declaration by the person who placed it in the mail. (I think other jurisdictions may refer to this as an 'affidavit of mailing.') The e-mail notice is an informal preliminary, not the actual proof of service. As to the prohibition on party service, it's to discourage fraud and avoid direct confrontation. It's important to comply because if you don't the court lacks personal jurisdiction and any judgment or order issued is void. Here's a case on it: Caldwell v. Coppola 219 Cal. App. 3d 859 Court of Appeal, 4th Appellate Dist., 1st Div. 1990 The first Practice Act limited personal delivery of the summons to the sheriff of the county where the defendant may be found...Although the Practice Act was amended to permit private individuals to serve notice, the common law rule consistently prohibited an interested person from personal service on the opposing party...In 1872 the Legislature enacted section 410 limiting personal service to a nonparty or the sheriff of the county where the defendant is found...In prohibiting personal service of process by parties, the current section 414.10 continues the intent of section 410. The long-standing prohibition on personal service by the opposing party arises from the adversarial interest present in legal actions and the concern for discouraging fraudulent service. "The common law rule was that an interested party could not serve a summons, the policy behind the rule being that an interested party should not be put in a position whereby he might gain an advantage over his antagonist." (Com. (1929) 3 So.Cal.L.Rev. 129.) Although attorneys are competent to serve process, the prohibition on service by the opposing party is strictly enforced. (See Sheehan v. All Persons(1926) 80 Cal. App. 393 [252 P. 337].) When a party has served notice on the opposing party, the court lacks personal jurisdiction over the defendant. (In re Marriage of Smith (1982) 135 Cal. App.3d 543 [185 Cal. Rptr. 411].) Personal service by a party renders any judgment or order arising from the proceeding void, despite the defendant's actual notice. (Sullivan v. Sullivan (1967) 256 Cal. App.2d 301 [64 Cal. Rptr. 82].[10])
One approach is to direct their attention to this publication from the NY Dept. of Health. It says "Physicians and hospitals are required by state law to maintain patient records for at least six years from the date of the patient's last visit". There is also a PDF printout which you can hand to them. If they still absolutely refuse, the publication explains about the appeals process and the consequence to the doctor, but it also provides some "rationalizations" that the staff-person might invoke (for example "Yes, but we charge for copying, I thought you meant for free" – they can charge up to 75 cents per page). There is no legal basis for their 2-year conclusion.
Under US copyright law, all works are protected by copyright except for US Government works. The concept of "public domain" is not legally well-defined, and is used colloquially to refer to government works, works whose protection has expired, works available to all, and works not copyrightable (such as scientific laws or old software). Under older copyright law, releasing a work without the copyright symbol effectively put the work in the public domain. One can simply say "I dedicate this work to the public domain", and that is typically taken to be enough. CC0 purports to do this (using more words). However, as far as I can tell, author rights under European law are so strong that it is simply impossible. Releasing works into the public law has to be consistent with other aspects of the law. If you grant an perpetual exclusive right to copy and distribute to a publisher, their right does not go away on your death (a right which they would not have with a real public domain work). A problem is that an author who makes such a dedication (a bare license) could revoke the license and reassert their copyright. They could be estopped from making that argument. As property, your heirs would inherit the copyright and could (try to) revoke the license. Presumably the courts would not allow them to pursue ostensive infringers. Nevertheless, your plan is neither trivial nor bullet-proof.
Murder is definined in Utah as: Murder is causing the death of another person under any of the following circumstances: ... Knowingly engaging in conduct which creates a grave risk of death to another person and under circumstances which evidence a depraved indifference to human life. It's not unreasonable to consider dropping 3,000,000 bouncy balls over a populated area as &quot;depraved indifference&quot;, particularly if someone had asked/read the question and would therefore know the potential consequences. Whether the killer would be charged with murder or manslaughter depends on the exact circumstances.
What is one supposed to do if they want to take an extended trip somewhere? Or is one basically not allowed to take such trips if they are a US citizen eligible for Jury Duty? In the US you are not required to seek permission to travel, or prove your past whereabouts to the government if you happen to miss some civic duty. They generally call up way more people than they need for this sort of reason. The length of time you are gone or where you choose to travel is irrelevant. In my experience you are given about a month heads up. If you didn't receive the notice until you returned from out of town, and they send a follow up, simply inform them of the fact that you were gone and didn't receive the notice until you returned. Jury duty is an obligation to some extent, but it is also a right and a privilege. It isn't a criminal offence you are liable for if you didn't get the notice. If it were that important to verify your availability ahead of time the notification would be sent registered mail with a signature required.
In this specific case and location, the precise location of the incident was explicitly made a public space via state law not too long before this actual event. They therefore most certainly have no right to privacy. What is interesting to me though is the other side of this, does someone have the right to record others in public spaces, or is it simply not illegal? For instance if I non-destructively and non-violently "jam" your camera by shooting a low-power IR beam at your lens, have I abridged a legal right of yours? I don't think it would be illegal to do this. I am not even positive its against the 1st Amendment. The 1st Amendment relates only to the dissemination of information, not the collection of it. The Constitution doesn't seem to compel the gov't to make information available, or even to make things/events/spaces observable. The various "sunshine" laws after-all had to be enacted, it wasn't part of an interpretation of the 1st Amendment. To put a finer point on it, is recording events in public spaces legal or merely lawful?
An executor executes a will according to the wishes of the will. This involves disposition of the estate. Almost certainly the mental state of humans is not material to the disposition of the estate. I'm unclear what you even mean by executor. The named executor of a will only has power after a person dies. Was the will executed 19 years ago? If so, the executor's power is long long passed. The chance of challenging a will 19 years later is practically zero. Elder abuse will be managed by the state. An interested party may involve the state to create an investigation as to what is going on.