Divorcing and Death – Dividing the Burial Plot
A burial plot is treated for most purposes as being unlike any other piece of real or personal property. One does not own the actual land where the burial plot is. One only buys the right to be buried in the burial plot so long as the cemetery remains a cemetery. The right to be buried in a certain plot is known as “the exclusive right of sepulture” and cemetery administrators must follow specific laws as to who can be buried in a plot.
it’s an easy asset to forget about during a divorce but complications can arise if the burial plot is not mentioned in the divorce settlement documents. Until or unless one or the other releases his or her rights, either by divorce decree or with the cemetery’s form, they will share the ownership rights. Very frequently controversies arise when there has been a second marriage following divorce or death of the first spouse; the children of the first spouse and those of the second spouse are often in disagreement.
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