Hi Mary, Tuesday, July 18, 2000, 8:20:54 PM, you wrote: ms> Ok , now I am confused, ms> My Aunt Susie works at a hospital and she is in California. ms> My Mom's cousin works at the hospital where my dad died in Iowa. <details snipped> >From one of my UK law reference books, "A person's closest blood relatives are his next of kin... next of kin, in order are: 1. Any children 2. Parents 3. Brothers and sisters 4. Half-brothers and half-sisters 5. Grandparents 6. Aunts and uncles 7. Nephews and neices Married people frequently give the name of their spouse as next of kin, on forms such as those signed on entry to hospital. That has no legal meaning since spouses are not blood relatives and therefore not next of kin. It merely identifies the person who has to be contacted by the hospital should the need arise." This is the position in the UK... I would suspect it's pretty much the same in the USA as well... may be worth quoting back to the hospital and see what they have to say. Hope this helps. -- Cheers, Anne ICQ# 32010967 (nickie) mailto:Anne.Nichols@ukgateway.net ListOwner: DOCWRA-L@rootsweb.com and DOCKERY-L@rootsweb.com http://resource.at/docwra http://www.bigfoot.com/~docwra (slower mirror site) My Docwra connection: http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/n/i/c/Anne-Nichols/index.html