AB 2598 changes how hospitals, convalescent hospitals, board-and-care facilities, and residential care facilities for the elderly handle deaths on their premises or bodies transferred after death. Rather than immediately notifying the county public administrator only when no next of kin are known, the bill requires facilities to make a reasonable attempt to notify any known next of kin that the person died or that the body is being held.
If the facility cannot reach next of kin after a reasonable attempt, it must notify the public administrator.
The bill adds civil enforcement on top of existing licensing and criminal provisions: facilities that fail to notify known next of kin become liable for a civil penalty of $200 per day (capped at $50,000), with accrual measured from the time it would have taken to make a reasonable attempt as defined by the relevant state department. The applicable department (State Department of Public Health or State Department of Social Services) may assess penalties after notice and an opportunity to be heard.
AB 2598 also amends the Probate Code provisions that govern public administrator notification and liability for internment costs and estate losses.
At a Glance
What It Does
Requires hospitals and residential care facilities to make a reasonable attempt to notify any known next of kin when a person dies in the facility or when a decedent’s body is held by a hospital after transfer. If notification fails, the facility must notify the county public administrator. The bill establishes a $200/day civil penalty (up to $50,000) for failures, enforceable by the relevant state department after a hearing.
Who It Affects
Applies to general acute care hospitals, convalescent hospitals, board-and-care facilities, and residential care facilities for the elderly licensed by California’s Department of Public Health or Department of Social Services, and to county public administrators who may be notified. It also affects departments tasked with setting the standard for a 'reasonable attempt' and enforcing penalties.
Why It Matters
Shifts the default from automatic public administrator notification to a duty to try to reach known family members first and creates a civil penalty regime to enforce that duty. Compliance, recordkeeping, and appeals procedures will matter operationally and financially for facilities and for enforcement agencies.
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What This Bill Actually Does
AB 2598 restructures postmortem notification duties in the health care and long-term care setting. Under current law, facilities that find a decedent with no known next of kin must notify the county public administrator; AB 2598 requires facilities to make a reasonable attempt to reach any known next of kin first.
If a decedent’s body is transferred to a hospital after death, the hospital must likewise try to notify any known next of kin that the body is being held. Only after a reasonable attempt fails does the facility need to notify the public administrator.
The bill pairs this changed duty with a civil enforcement mechanism. It sets a per diem penalty of $200 for failures to notify known next of kin, capped at $50,000 per incident.
Importantly, the period over which penalties accrue is not open-ended from the moment of death but is measured from the time it would have taken to make a reasonable attempt to notify — a timing standard the relevant state department will determine. The bill gives that department authority to assess penalties, but only after the facility receives notice and an opportunity for a hearing.AB 2598 also touches the Probate Code by preserving the public administrator’s role and the existing liability construct for internment costs and losses to the estate when notification fails.
Practically, facilities will need to document who counts as 'known next of kin,' what outreach steps they took, and timestamps showing when contact attempts began and ended. The department-level determinations about what constitutes a reasonable attempt and how to measure the accrual window will be the operational fulcrum for enforcement and appeals.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The bill requires facilities to make a 'reasonable attempt' to notify any known next of kin when someone dies in the facility or when a body is transferred to a hospital after death.
If a facility cannot reach next of kin after a reasonable attempt, it must notify the county public administrator as current law directs.
Facilities that fail to notify known next of kin are subject to a civil penalty of $200 per day, capped at $50,000 per decedent.
Penalty accrual is measured from the time it would have taken to make a reasonable attempt to notify next of kin, a standard to be set by the State Department of Public Health or the State Department of Social Services, and penalties are assessed only after notice and an opportunity to be heard.
The bill amends Probate Code 7600.5 to align public administrator notification and liability for internment and estate losses with the new notification procedure.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
Every bill we cover gets an analysis of its key sections.
Hospital duty to attempt notification and hold of body
This provision imposes the duty on hospitals (including convalescent hospitals) that either discover a death on site or receive a body after death to make a reasonable attempt to notify any known next of kin that the person has died or that the hospital is holding the body. Operationally, hospitals will need written processes to locate and contact listed family, including logging attempts and outcomes. The section also establishes that, if after a reasonable attempt the facility cannot contact next of kin, the hospital must notify the county public administrator under existing Probate Code rules.
RCFE and board-and-care notification duty
This mirror provision applies the same reasonable-attempt requirement to residential care facilities for the elderly and board-and-care facilities regulated by the Department of Social Services. It forces these licensees to try to reach known next of kin before defaulting to a public administrator notification, which will change intake and recordkeeping practices for many long-term care operators who currently treat unknown-next-of-kin cases as immediate public administrator referrals.
Public administrator notice and liability alignment
The amendment aligns Probate Code procedures with the new threshold for public administrator involvement: counties will receive notice only after facilities can show they made a reasonable attempt to contact known next of kin. The section continues to assign liability for internment costs and certain estate losses where a facility fails to notify, but now the liability analysis will hinge on whether the facility satisfied the 'reasonable attempt' obligation.
Civil penalties, measurement, and departmental enforcement
The bill creates a civil penalty regime: $200 per day per decedent up to $50,000, with accrual measured from the time it would take to make a reasonable attempt to notify next of kin — a timing standard that the Department of Public Health or Department of Social Services must define for their licensees. Both departments get authority to assess penalties after providing notice and an opportunity to be heard. Facilities remain subject to existing licensing sanctions and any criminal liability tied to violations of the Health and Safety Code or RCFEA.
Mandate language and reimbursement carve-out
Because the bill imposes duties on locally regulated entities and interacts with county public administrators, it creates a state-mandated local program. However, the bill includes statutory language stating that the state need not reimburse local agencies for costs of complying with the mandate, which has budgetary implications for counties and could affect how public administrators absorb additional notices.
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Explore Healthcare in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Known next of kin and family members — They gain a statutory right to prompt outreach when a relative dies in a facility or when a body is being held by a hospital, reducing surprise internments and giving families earlier control over disposition decisions.
- Estate beneficiaries — Faster notification can reduce costs and losses associated with delayed estate administration, such as storage and interim internment expenses triggered by delayed family involvement.
- County public administrators — They gain clearer triage: counties will be notified only after facilities document failed reasonable attempts, allowing public administrators to prioritize true unclaimed or unknown-next-of-kin cases.
Who Bears the Cost
- Hospitals and licensed long-term care facilities (RCFEs, board-and-care) — They must develop, document, and staff procedures to locate and contact next of kin, retain logs and contact evidence, and face potential civil penalties of $200/day up to $50,000 if they fail to comply.
- State departments (Department of Public Health and Department of Social Services) — The departments must define 'reasonable attempt' standards, adjudicate contested penalty assessments, and allocate enforcement resources, creating administrative workload that is likely unfunded.
- Counties and public administrators — While they may receive fewer trivial notices, counties absorb the responsibility to act on cases where facilities cannot reach next of kin; the bill declares no state reimbursement, exposing counties to cost risk for mandated functions.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
AB 2598 pits the legitimate public interest in promptly informing families and avoiding unwanted public internment against the practical limits of facility resources and the unreliability of contact information; it asks regulators to define a workable standard of 'reasonable attempt' that protects families without imposing unfair, high‑stakes penalties on facilities for circumstances beyond their control.
The bill's central implementation challenge is how agencies define and operationalize a 'reasonable attempt' to notify next of kin. That phrase invites granular questions: which records count as sources for next-of-kin contact information, how many outreach methods are required (phone, email, certified mail), how many attempts across what time window qualify, and how to treat inaccurate or outdated contact details provided by the decedent.
The enforcement regime ties penalty accrual to a department-determined timeline, which transfers significant discretion to executive agencies and makes clear, contemporaneous documentation by facilities the decisive evidence in any penalty proceeding.
Another practical tension concerns information access and privacy. Facilities may need to query electronic health records, emergency contact forms, and external registries to locate relatives; HIPAA and state privacy rules allow certain disclosures after death, but facilities will need well‑crafted policies to avoid overstepping.
The bill also layers civil penalties on top of existing licensing and criminal sanctions, creating cumulative exposure for facilities. That may encourage aggressive compliance but also risks penalizing organizations for circumstances often beyond their control — for example, when decedents provided no reliable contacts or when listed contacts cannot be reached despite reasonable efforts.
Finally, the bill shifts administrative costs to departments and counties without guaranteed reimbursement, leaving enforcement capacity and local budgetary impacts uncertain.
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