Judge: Gregory Keosian, Case: 22STCV29064, Date: 2024-01-16 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 22STCV29064    Hearing Date: January 16, 2024    Dept: 61

Plaintiff Lidia Gomez’s Motion to Obtain Certified Copy of the Death Certificate of Philip Mason Haller is DENIED.

I.                MOTION TO OBTAIN DEATH CERTIFICATE

Health & Safety Code § 103526 authorizes a state, local, or county recorder or registrar to provide a certified copy of a birth, death or marriage record, if the application for such is accompanied by a sworn statement that the applicant is an “authorized person.” (Health & Safety Code § 103526, subd. (a)(1).) “Authorized person” includes a party to the marriage for which a certificate is sought, the registrant or a parent of the registrant, or “[a] party entitled to receive the record as a result of a court order,” among other persons. (Health & Safety Code § 103526, subd. (c)(2)(B).)

Plaintiff Lidia Gomez seeks a certified copy of the death certificate of Decedent Philip Mason Haller. (Motion at p. 5.) Plaintiff seeks title to certain property, formerly owned by the deceased Catherine Haller, and in order to prosecute her claims against the surviving grandchildren and remaining heirs of Catherine Hall, she must show that Philip Haller, Catherine’s child, is deceased. (Motion at p. 4.)

Plaintiff does not explain the necessity of a court order declaring her an “authorized person” under Health & Safety Code § 103526. As she acknowledges, even if she is not an authorized person under Health & Safety Code § 103526, she may still obtain a certified copy of the record she seeks, albeit with a legend that states, “INFORMATIONAL, NOT A VALID DOCUMENT TO ESTABLISH IDENTITY.” (Health & Safety Code § 103526, subd. (b)(1).) While she therefore may not establish her “identity” with the document, this is no bar to the admissibility of the certified copy of a death certificate for the information set forth within it, as a certified copy of a death certificate registered within a year of the event described “is prima facie evidence in all courts and places of the facts stated therein.” (Health & Safety Code, § 103550.) A court may indeed take judicial notice of a death certificate. (See People v. Terry (1974) 38 Cal.App.3d 432, 439.)

The motion is therefore DENIED.