Cemetery Plot Control

[Whitman 694]

If a plot/square/etc was purchased in a public cemetery several generations ago (I understand that one is not actually buying the land but sort of buying an easement to plant people in accordance with the cemetery rules), and if the purchaser or even his children did not specify/bequeath in their will who controls it, what happens when you have 10 or 20 grandchildren or even great-grandchildren who hate each other and disagree who can or can't be buried in it?  Does it sit empty for eternity? Does it revert back to ownership of the Cemetery Burial Association? 

[UTPhil2006 3,930]

We really need to get you a TV show

[TwiceHorn 32,071]

Did all of the forebears have wills?  Just because something isn't specifically bequeathed doesn't mean it doesn't pass by the will.  Most wills have residuary clauses that deal with property otherwise not mentioned in the will.  It may matter whether such an interest is classified as real or personal property.

[Whitman 694]

25 minutes ago, UTPhil2006 said:

We really need to get you a TV show

This isn't actually for me, but a friend (no, really).  My family is all buried (back 5 generations) here in a private cemetery on our farm.  The farm is in my name now, so I get to decide who can or can not be buried in it if some distant cousin or unknown relative pops up.

[HornOnTheBayou 9,062]

I hate it when siblings fight. Hopefully, they can put aside their differences and make up. And being that they're in West Virginia, I assume the make-up sex will be wild. 

[Whitman 694]

24 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Did all of the forebears have wills?  Just because something isn't specifically bequeathed doesn't mean it doesn't pass by the will.  Most wills have residuary clauses that deal with property otherwise not mentioned in the will.  It may matter whether such an interest is classified as real or personal property.

Some did and some did not.  It is my understanding the original purchaser did, did not have it specified, but as you mentioned, had the "residual estate" section.  I would think that ownership would pass down (if not specified) by who gets the residual estate and if intestate then by the laws of the state for intestate succession (I'm not a lawyer, haven't called mine about this yet for the friend, but I may have fapped to Susan Dey when she was on LA Law.)

[TwiceHorn 32,071]

12 minutes ago, Whitman said:

Some did and some did not.  It is my understanding the original purchaser did, did not have it specified, but as you mentioned, had the "residual estate" section.  I would think that ownership would pass down (if not specified) by who gets the residual estate and if intestate then by the laws of the state for intestate succession (I'm not a lawyer, haven't called mine about this yet for the friend, but I may have fapped to Susan Dey when she was on LA Law.)

Yep, that's right.  But heirs in the case of intestate succession can implicate quite a few people, so it could conceivably be owned, in fractional interests, by dozens of people.

[Whitman 694]

37 minutes ago, UTPhil2006 said:

We really need to get you a TV show

I suggested a couple of years ago on the old site that we should drop some of Vic's characters like Big Tony into one of the hollers in WV and film the shenanigans. 

[RDCanecutter 26,871]

You need to go build a new cemetery, on top of a Native American suburb.

[Whitman 694]

8 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Yep, that's right.  But heirs in the case of intestate succession can implicate quite a few people, so it could conceivably be owned, in fractional interests, by dozens of people.

That's exactly what his problem is.  Seven grown great-grandchildren from the original buyer and one of them is demanding that the wife of one of the grandchildren of original buyer (all other spouses for that generation are dead) not be buried there.  She apparently hated her aunt.  Aunt is not dead yet, but circling the drain.  Kind of cunty in my book.