Talk:Next of kin

Article restructured
Wow, lots of people have made valid points on the talk page, particularly with regard to the lack of worldwide view, but no one has edited. No offense is intended, but remember wikipedia encourages users to Be bold! If you find a problem in wikipedia, feel free to correct it yourself.

The original article was significantly wrong for most jurisdictions. I've separated out most of the preamble, which referred to the US, into a separate US section. The UK section only referred to the mental health act which is a very narrow case, so I've expanded that section. I have no knowledge of other countries laws and appeal to anyone who does, to add a section for these other countries.

There is a more general problem of a lack of decent information on wikipedia describing UK laws on this and related areas, and it would be very beneficial for someone with specialist knowledge to be bold editing this, the lasting power of attorney article, and the mental capacity act article.82.1.135.104 (talk) 09:24, 17 July 2010 (UTC)

Too Americanized
I find this article far too Americanized; and the links at the foot of the article look an absolute mess and are, to me, absolutely pointless. If the article is going to start mentioning legal systems then I feel it should at least mention how these laws differ in other countries, rather than just the sweeping generalisation used currently. --Cjelly 09:18, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

- 2 years later and it's still primarily American :( 81.110.242.183 (talk) 11:29, 2 March 2009 (UTC)
 * So. Please add other nations. --RossF18 (talk) 15:08, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

Spouse
is your spouse classed as 'next of kin'


 * nope. different rules. usually gets 1/2 unless provided for otherwise in will. --RossF18 (talk) 04:15, 17 March 2009 (UTC)

Examples
The article could do with some concrete examples on the use of the concept in different jurisdictions. Eg, what is the order of priority between siblings, grandparents etc. Does it vary from one place to another? CalJW 15:59, 8 November 2005 (UTC)

Worldwide view
Added worldwide view tag. The first issue I noticed is that, under UK law, NOBODY can susbtitute their consent for that of a patient, despite that this article refers to the next of kin given consent on the patients behalf when the patient is incapacitated. -*- u:Chazz/contact/t: 19:36, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

The original aricle is not correct for the UK. 1/ Next of kin is not defined by the law 2/ Thers are no rules about who can and cannot be the N of K. 3/ There is no requirement for the nominated person to be a relative and this person can be a partner (ie not married) or friend 4/ A N of K has no legal liabilities and has no rights to the person's possessions 5/ The nominated person must agree to be N of K and can refuse if they so wish. Cyril B
 * In response to what you have written, | This Link seems to partially contradict it, as does | this. The UK MoD, at the very least, has a policy (which is described as legal) of an "official" Next of Kin. Similarly, the Mental Health Act has a clearly defined list of "Nearest Relatives". For medical purposes, a "Next of Kin" can be nominated, but this person only has consultory powers and cannot make a final decision on medical matters. --El Pollo Diablo (Talk) 21:58, 1 October 2007 (UTC)

Moovy
Ther wuz a moovy kalled next uv Kin with patrik swazee. Whi aint in on heer?

BigBubbaUSA (talk) 06:48, 12 March 2008 (UTC)

age of majority
Hello!

This article is somehow confusing. You get the impression that if the next of kin is still of minor age, he or she would be skipped. But this is definitely not true.

Best regards

Harald —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.141.251.179 (talk) 18:56, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

Interstate?
In the paragraph beginning with:

Order of Precedence in U.S.

"American statutes typically provide that, in absence of issue and subject to the share of a surviving spouse, interstate property passes to the parents......

shouldn't that be intestate property ? or does it, in fact, refer to property in another state? Alexselkirk1704 (talk) 19:52, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
 * correct, fixed. Good eye. --RossF18 (talk) 20:13, 23 October 2008 (UTC)


 * Howdy! I have noticed a few other typos there that I hope to have fixed. The one doing the citations from that book was sure in a hurry! :) bkil (talk) 19:25, 21 November 2008 (UTC)

UK
Quote "Next of kin is the term used to describe a person's closest living blood relative or relatives" at the top of the article is not true for the UK. There is no legal definition for 'next of kin' so it can be anybody you wish to nominate and does not have to be a blood relative.

http://www.royalfree.org.uk/pdf/Next_of_Kin002.pdf

Medical Matters
Could there be a section added for how it relates specifically for medical matters eg if you can state that for medical purposes one person in particular is NOT to be given next of kin rights and is not to be told anything of a medical nature? Can you have that written in your medical records, are doctors obliged to follow your wishes etc? Can you state that next of kin are not to be told anything medical, even in an emergency? Can you just not list anyone as next of kin? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 220.253.56.55 (talk) 12:33, 22 February 2010 (UTC)

I WOULD LIKE TO ADD A COMMENT, Iam working in Oil Field Industry as an HSE Advisor and Next of Kin list is for us this important list we keep for each employee the closest relative to the employee that we can contact in case of evacuation of the employee, we need to inform the family so we use the spread sheet listing the contact, this list is called Next of Kind list. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 196.41.225.253 (talk) 17:48, 9 March 2011 (UTC)

Next Of Kin (NOK) or Nominated Emergency Contact (NEC)
As a note to the above comment, in the mining industry the terminology I use is Nominated Emergency Contact (NEC) as this makes it much clearer that the person to be contacted in the event of an emergency may not in fact be a blood relative. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kcurnow (talk • contribs) 04:01, 16 November 2011 (UTC)
 * This seems to be increasingly common, especially for employers. When I first started working about 12 years ago (in the UK) I was always asked for a next of kin, these days it's almost always an 'emergency contact'. In my opinion it's much clearer this way. I didn't realise until recently that your next of kin (in the UK) could be anyone and thought I had to put down my mother (my closest living relative) even though she lives too far away to be any help in an emergency. I wonder if it's a common trend and/or official decision in some industries to clarify what they're actually asking for rather than using a somewhat out-dated term. 82.68.159.246 (talk) 10:33, 17 May 2013 (UTC)

External links modified
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20150611034933/http://www.advicenow.org.uk/living-together/next-of-kin/ to http://www.advicenow.org.uk/living-together/next-of-kin/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20150523155559/http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2010/en/act/pub/0024/ to http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2010/en/act/pub/0024/

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External links modified (February 2018)
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