STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7610--A
2013-2014 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
May 28, 2013
___________
Introduced by M. of A. FAHY -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions -- committee discharged,
bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said
committee
AN ACT to amend the religious corporations law, in relation to the reac-
quisition of abandoned cemetery plots
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The religious corporations law is amended by adding a new
2 section 93 to read as follows:
3 § 93. Reacquisition of a lot, plot or part thereof by a Catholic reli-
4 gious cemetery corporation. A Catholic religious cemetery corporation
5 may, upon application and approval by a supreme court, reacquire, resub-
6 divide, and resell a lot, plot or part thereof under the following
7 circumstances:
8 (a)(i) If the records of the corporation demonstrate that the lot,
9 plot or part thereof was purchased more than seventy-five years prior to
10 the application of the corporation; and (ii) if no burials have been
11 made in the lot, plot or part thereof or all the bodies therein have
12 been lawfully removed; and (iii) if neither the owner or owners of the
13 lot, plot or part thereof nor any person having a credible claim to
14 ownership who has visited, made payments in respect of or engaged in any
15 other proprietary activities with respect to the lot, plot or part ther-
16 eof can be identified after a reasonable search conducted by the Cathol-
17 ic religious cemetery corporation, it shall be conclusively presumed
18 that the owner or owners of the lot, plot or part thereof have abandoned
19 their burial rights. A reasonable search consists of a search of: (1)
20 all cemetery records to determine the name of the owner or owners of the
21 lot, plot or part thereof, their last known addresses and all informa-
22 tion available to the cemetery relating to any person buried in the lot,
23 plot or part thereof and the names and last known addresses of any
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11162-02-3
A. 7610--A 2
1 persons making inquiry about or visiting the lot, plot or part thereof;
2 (2) a search for the death certificates and the probated wills of the
3 owner or owners of the lot, plot or part thereof; (3) the posting of
4 notice by the cemetery at the entrance to the cemetery and in the ceme-
5 tery office, if any, of its intention to declare the lot, plot or part
6 thereof abandoned; (4) the mailing of such notice certified mail with
7 return receipt requested to the owner or owners of the lot, plot or part
8 thereof and each person identified during the reasonable search at their
9 last known addresses; (5) publication of such notice once in each week
10 for three successive weeks, in two newspapers of regular commercial
11 circulation by subscription and/or newsstand sale, to be designated by
12 the county clerk of the county where the cemetery is located which in
13 his or her judgment, given the ethnic, religious, geographic or other
14 related demographic characteristics of the owner or owners of the lot,
15 plot or part thereof and each person identified through the reasonable
16 search and the predominant readership of such newspapers are best calcu-
17 lated to inform the owner or owners of the lot, plot or part thereof and
18 each person identified through the reasonable search of any application
19 pursuant to the provisions of this section; and (6) the preparation of
20 an affidavit describing the steps taken by the Catholic religious ceme-
21 tery corporation to ascertain the identity of and to contact the current
22 owner or owners of the lot, plot or part thereof or next-of-kin thereof
23 or any other persons identified in the course of the reasonable search
24 who might have relevant information and the results of such steps. After
25 the filing with the supreme court of proof of compliance with the above
26 requirements in form and substance reasonably satisfactory to such
27 supreme court and upon approval by the supreme court, the lot, plot or
28 part thereof may be resold by the cemetery to any party in compliance
29 with the cemetery rules and regulations provided, however, that any
30 monument subsequently placed on such lot, plot or part thereof shall
31 conform to the general appearance of any existing monuments in said
32 section of lots, plots or parts thereof, if any.
33 (b) If (i) the circumstances described in subdivision (a) of this
34 section exist except that one or more burials have been made in a lot,
35 and the last burial was made more than seventy-five years prior to the
36 application, (ii) the lot, plot or part thereof can be subdivided to
37 create new graves, (iii) the bodies have not been lawfully removed, and
38 (iv) the cemetery submits an application to the supreme court which
39 complies with the requirements set forth in subdivision (a) of this
40 section, it shall be conclusively presumed that the lot owner has aban-
41 doned the right to make further burials in the lot, the lot may be
42 subdivided, and the resubdivided lot, plot or parts thereof which do not
43 contain the remains of the deceased persons may be resold by the reli-
44 gious cemetery corporation as provided in this section. Nothing in this
45 section shall permit a Catholic religious cemetery corporation to
46 declare abandoned a lot, plot or part thereof, where such lot, plot or
47 part thereof was purchased for multiple depth burials and where one or
48 more burials has occurred or authorized a Catholic religious cemetery
49 corporation to remove a monument or other embellishment to facilitate
50 the resale of such lot, plot or part thereof.
51 (c) If the owner or owners of a lot, plot or part thereof can be iden-
52 tified, the Catholic religious cemetery corporation, with the consent of
53 the owner or owners of the lot, plot or part thereof, the lot, plot or
54 part thereof may be resubdivided, and the resubdivided lot, plot or part
55 thereof which does not contain the remains of deceased persons may be
56 resold by the Catholic religious cemetery corporation, provided, howev-
A. 7610--A 3
1 er, if no burial has been made in the lot, plot or part thereof, in the
2 twenty-five year period preceding such application, the owner of a lot,
3 plot or part thereof has notified his or her parents, spouse, issue,
4 brothers, sisters, grandparents, and grandchildren, if any, of the
5 application to the supreme court, and provided further, however, if a
6 burial has been made in this lot, plot or part thereof during such twen-
7 ty-five year period, the spouse and issue of such deceased person are
8 also notified, and provided further, in either case the owner of the
9 lot, plot or part thereof satisfies the supreme court that none of the
10 persons notified have agreed within forty-five days of notification to
11 purchase the lot, plot or part thereof at the price which the Catholic
12 religious cemetery corporation shall certify under penalty of law shall
13 be the price at which the lot, plot or part thereof shall be sold for
14 after reacquisition.
15 (d) Upon the sale of a lot, plot or part thereof reacquired by a
16 Catholic religious cemetery corporation under the provisions of subdivi-
17 sion (a), (b), or (c) of this section, the net proceeds shall be placed
18 in a trust designated to provide future maintenance of the cemetery.
19 (e) If the owner of the lot, plot or part thereof is subsequently
20 identified, the Catholic religious cemetery corporation shall: (i)
21 return all unsold lots, plots or parts thereof if any, to the owner if
22 so requested; and (ii) with respect to any lots, plots or parts thereof
23 that have been sold pursuant to this section, at the option of the owner
24 of the lot, plot or part thereof, either (1) provide the owner, at not
25 cost to the owner, with a lot, plot or part thereof comparable to any
26 lot, plot or part thereof that was sold by the Catholic religious ceme-
27 tery corporation or (2) provide the owner with the proceeds from the
28 sale of the lot, plot or part thereof reacquired under this section with
29 interest thereon from the date of the sale at six percent per annum.
30 (f) Monuments to be erected on a lot, plot or part thereof, following
31 the resale of a lot, plot or part thereof, shall conform to the rules
32 and regulations or other requirements of the Catholic religious cemetery
33 corporation and shall conform to the size, style, and type of monuments
34 in the section of the cemetery where such resale occurs.
35 § 2. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall
36 have become a law.
