N.Y.
Not-for-Profit Corporation Law Section 1512
Rights of lot owners
(a)
Lots; indivisible and inalienable. All lots, plots or parts thereof, the use of which has been conveyed as a separate lot, shall be indivisible, except with the consent of the lot owner or lot owners and the corporation, or as in this section provided. After a burial therein, the same shall be inalienable, except as otherwise provided.(b)
Interest of deceased lot owner. Upon the death of an owner or co-owner of any lot, plot or part thereof, unless the same shall be held in joint tenancy, or tenancy by the entirety, the interest of the deceased lot owner shall pass to the devises of such lot owner, but, if such interest be not effectually devised, then to his or her descendants then surviving, and if there be none, then to the surviving spouse, and if there be none, then to those entitled to take the real and personal property of the deceased lot owner pursuant to article four of the estates, powers and trust law provided, however, that no interest in any lot, plot or part thereof shall pass by any residuary or other general clause in a will and such interest shall pass by will only if the lot, plot or part thereof sought to be devised is specifically referred to in such will. The surviving spouse of a deceased lot owner during his or her life and the owners from time to time of the deceased lot owner’s lot, plot or part thereof, shall have in common the possession, care and control of such lot, plot or part thereof.(c)
Purchase for burial of decedent. Whenever a lot, plot or part thereof shall be purchased by the executor, administrator or representative of a decedent from estate funds for the burial of the decedent, the surviving spouse of the decedent shall have the right of interment therein, and the deed shall run to the names of the distributees, other than the surviving spouse, of the decedent, or to “The distributees, other than the surviving spouse, of ........., deceased”, if there be such surviving spouse, otherwise to “The distributees of............., deceased.” If the deed shall run to “The distributees, other than the surviving spouse of ........., deceased,” or to “The distributees of ........., deceased,” the executor, administrator or representative shall, at the time of delivery of the deed to such lot, plot or part thereof, file with the corporation an affidavit setting forth the names and places of residence of all the decedent’s distributees, and the corporation shall be entitled to rely upon the truth of the statements contained in such affidavit.(d)
Right of interment. A deceased person shall have the right of interment in any lot, plot or part thereof of which he or she was the owner or co-owner at the time of his or her death, or in any tomb erected thereon. The surviving spouse shall have the right of interment for his or her body in a lot or tomb in which the deceased spouse was an owner or co-owner at the time of his or her death, except where all the available burial spaces in a lot or tomb have been designated for the interment of persons other than the surviving spouse, pursuant to subdivision (f) of this section, and a right to have his or her body remain permanently interred or entombed therein, except, that such body may be removed therefrom as provided in subdivision (e) of § 1510 (Cemetery duties)section fifteen hundred ten of this article. Such right may be enforced and protected by his or her personal representatives. The remains of a spouse, parent or child of a person who is an owner or co-owner thereof may be interred in such lot or tomb without the consent of any person claiming any interest therein, subject, however, to the following rules and exceptions: (A) The place of interment in such lot shall be subject to the reasonable determination by a majority of the co-owners or in the absence of such determination by the cemetery corporation or its officer or agent having immediate charge of interments. (B) Any husband or wife living separate from the other and owning a lot in which the other, but for this section, would have no right of burial, at least thirty days before the death of the other, may file with the cemetery corporation a written objection to the interment of the other, and thereupon there shall be no right of interment under this subdivision. (C) A parent or child owning a lot in which the other would have no right of burial but for this section, at least thirty days before the death of the other, may file with the cemetery corporation a written objection to the interment of the other, and thereupon there shall be no right of interment under this subdivision. In such case, if the parent or child so excluded from burial in such lot shall die without having any place of interment, then the person filing such objection shall at once provide for the other a suitable place of burial in a convenient cemetery. The cost of such place of interment shall be chargeable to the decedent’s estate, if any. (D) This section shall not permit a burial in any ground or place contrary to or in violation of any precept, rule, regulation or usage of any church or religious society, association or corporation restricting burial therein. This subdivision shall not limit any existing right of burial under other provisions of law, nor shall it limit or curtail the right of alienation, under the rules of the cemetery corporation wherein such lot is situated, by the owner of a lot before the death of the person for whose remains the right of burial is provided herein, and there shall be no right of burial in any lot sold by its owner, before the death of the person for whose remains the right of burial is provided herein.(e)
More than one person entitled to possession and control.(1)
At any time when more than one person is entitled to the possession, care and control of such lot, any of the persons so entitled thereto may file with the corporation an affidavit setting forth the names and places of residence of all the persons entitled to the possession, care and control of such lot, and the corporation shall be entitled to rely upon the truth of the statements contained in such affidavit. The corporation shall be entitled to collect a reasonable fee for filing and recording such affidavit and other documents filed in its office.(2)
At any time when more than one person is entitled to the possession, care or control of such lot, plot or part thereof, the persons so entitled thereto shall file with the corporation a designation of a person who shall represent the lot, plot or part thereof, and so long as they shall fail to designate, the corporation may make such designation. A distributee may release his or her interest in a lot, plot or part thereof, to the other distributees, and a joint owner may release or devise to the other joint owners, his or her right in the lot, plot or part thereof, on conditions specified in the release or will, the original or certified copy of which shall be filed in the office of the corporation. The surviving spouse not excluded from the right of burial under the provisions of subdivision (d) of this section, at any time may release his or her right in such lot, plot or part thereof, but no conveyance or devise by any other person shall deprive him or her of such right.(f)
Designation of persons who may be interred. At any time all the owners of a lot, and any surviving spouse having a right of interment therein, may execute, acknowledge and file with the corporation an instrument, and the sole owner of a lot may, in a testamentary instrument admitted to probate, make a provision, which may (A) designate the person or persons or class of persons who may thereafter be interred in said lot or in a tomb in such lot and the places of their interment; (B) direct that upon the interment of certain named persons, the lot or tomb in such lot shall be closed to further interments; (C) direct that the title of the lot shall upon the death of any one or more of the owners, descend in perpetuity to his, her or their distributees, unaffected by any devise. In any case in which an irrevocable designation of a person, persons or class of persons who may be interred in any lot or tomb has been made pursuant to this subdivision and in which the designated person or persons, or all of the known class of designated persons, have died and have not been buried in the places designated in said lot or tomb, or have by a written instrument duly signed and acknowledged and filed with the corporation, renounced the right of interment pursuant to such designation, then, and in any such event, the then owner or owners of said lot or tomb and any surviving spouse having the right of interment therein, may designate another person or persons or class of persons who may thereafter be interred in said lot or in a tomb in said lot, and the places of their interment, unless the original designation clearly indicated not only that it was irrevocable, but also that no further designations were to be made. Any designation provided for by this subdivision except a designation by testamentary instrument, shall be deemed revocable unless such instrument provides otherwise. In the event an owner or co-owner of a lot is under the age of eighteen years, any designation provided for by this subdivision, except a designation by testamentary instrument, may be executed and acknowledged by the parent or general or testamentary guardian for and on behalf of such owner or co-owner, provided, however, that no such designation may be made unless a place of interment shall remain available in said lot or in a tomb in such lot for the interment of each owner or co-owner of the lot under the age of eighteen years, and any designation so made may be revoked by the owner or co-owner upon reaching the age of eighteen years except with respect to burials effected before that time. A designation made by a parent or guardian on behalf of an infant owner or co-owner who is over the age of fourteen years must contain the written consent of such infant owner or co-owner.(g)
Lot owner voting. Each owner of full age of a lot in the cemetery of the corporation, as shown in the records of the cemetery at the time of the purchase of the lot from the corporation, or if there be two or more owners, then one of them designated in writing by a majority of them, may cast, in person or by proxy, one vote at meetings of the corporation in respect to each such lot so owned. At such meetings, each owner of a certificate of stock heretofore lawfully issued shall be entitled to one vote for each share of stock owned by him and each owner of a certificate of indebtedness shall be entitled to one vote for each one hundred dollars of such indebtedness remaining unpaid. No lot owner shall be entitled to vote unless all assessments against the lot of such owner shall have been paid. A quorum for the transaction of business, unless the certificate of incorporation or by-laws otherwise provide, shall be five members entitled to vote at the meeting. In the event a lot owner has executed a proxy which has been in effect for five or more years, the cemetery corporation shall not honor such proxy unless it is presented with proof that the lot owner has been sent a written notice at the address listed in the records of the corporation at least thirty days prior to the meeting at which the proxy is to be exercised advising the lot owner that the proxy is still effective. The notice shall identify the date, time and place of such meeting, and the name of the person holding the proxy and shall state that it may, unless the proxy provides otherwise, be terminated at any time. Such notice need not be mailed more frequently than every fifth year.(h)
Plots owned by religious corporations, unincorporated associations, or other entities that provide burial benefits for its members. With respect to any lot, plot or part thereof owned by a membership or religious corporation or unincorporated association or other entity that provides burial benefits for its members, and requires the cemetery to obtain a burial authorization from the membership, religious corporation, unincorporated association, or other entity, the following rules shall apply:(1)
If a cemetery receives a request to bury an individual who was a member of a membership, religious corporation, unincorporated association, or other entity that owns the lot, plot or part thereof in which the burial would be made, and despite reasonable efforts on the part of the family of the deceased, the funeral home, and/or the cemetery, no representative of the membership, religious corporation, unincorporated association, or other entity that owns the lot, plot or part thereof in which the burial would be made can be located to authorize the burial, the cemetery may, at its discretion, proceed with the interment provided that documentary evidence indicating a specific grave reservation in the lot, plot or part thereof, for the deceased individual is provided to the cemetery and further that the cemetery has recorded such reservation on its books and in its records;(2)
If the decedent is within the first degree of consanguinity to an individual already interred in the lot, plot or part thereof, or the spouse of the decedent is already interred in the lot, plot or part thereof, the cemetery may, at its discretion, proceed with the interment, provided some form of documentary evidence is provided to the cemetery as to the decedent’s right of burial in the lot, plot or part thereof;(3)
The right of memorialization shall, under the circumstances described in this paragraph, pass to the person with the right of possession of the body at the time of burial; and(4)
Neither the cemetery nor the funeral director shall be liable for any claims, in law or equity, relating to the failure to obtain authorization from the membership, religious corporation, unincorporated association, or other entity for the use of the plot, lot, or portion thereof provided that the requirements of this paragraph have been met.
Source:
Section 1512 — Rights of lot owners, https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/NPC/1512 (updated Sep. 22, 2014; accessed Oct. 26, 2024).
