Where an acknowledged foetus is delivered stillborn, who must report it, and when does the duty pass to a testamentary executor?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
For this exercise, the practice file holds the record of the acknowledgment of the foetus, the record of the delivery showing that the foetus came forth as a corpse, and anything fixing the day the reporting obligor learned that fact. The report already filed under the preceding provision must also be read, since the proviso turns on it.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading follows the main clause: where an acknowledged foetus has been delivered as a corpse, the person obliged to report a birth must report that fact within the period the provision sets, and that period runs from the day that person learned the fact.
Another reading takes the proviso at its word: where a testamentary executor has already made the report under the preceding provision on reporting, it is that executor who makes the report here, so the birth-registration obligor's duty is displaced by that one condition alone.
Your judgment
Where a report under the preceding provision was made by someone whose capacity as testamentary executor is not shown on the file, what could settle who must report the stillbirth?
PRO SE does not make this decision or keep a case record on this public site.When to reconsider
We look at this again if the provision is amended to change who bears the duty or the period it sets, or if an authoritative decision explains what showing is needed to establish that a testamentary executor made the report under the preceding provision.