2006 New York Code - Cemetery Lands.

 
  § 1506. Cemetery lands.
    (a)    Purchase  of  land;  notice  to  board and court approval.   No
  cemetery corporation, in purchasing real property hereafter,  shall  pay
  or  agree to pay more than the fair and reasonable market value thereof.
  The terms of the purchase, including the price to be paid and the method
  of payment, shall be subject, upon notice  to  the  cemetery  board,  to
  approval  by  the  supreme  court in a district where any portion of the
  land is located.  In determining the fair and reasonable  market  value,
  the  court  may take into consideration the method by which the purchase
  price is to be paid.
    (b)  Consent of local authorities.  (1)  No cemetery  shall  hereafter
  be  located  in  any  city  or  village without the consent of the local
  legislative body of such city, or the board of trustees of such village.
  (2)  No cemetery shall hereafter be located in any town, outside  of  an
  incorporated  village in Suffolk county, without the consent of the town
  board of such town.
    (c)   Cemeteries in  Kings,  Queens,  Rockland,  Westchester,  Nassau,
  Suffolk,  Putnam  and  Erie counties.   A cemetery corporation shall not
  take by deed, devise or otherwise any land in  the  counties  of  Kings,
  Queens,  Rockland,  Westchester,  Nassau,  Suffolk,  Putnam  or Erie for
  cemetery purposes, or set apart any  ground  therefor  in  any  of  such
  counties,  unless the consent of the board of supervisors or legislative
  body thereof, or of the city council of the city of New York, in respect
  to Kings or Queens county, be first  obtained.    Such  consent  may  be
  granted upon such conditions and under such regulations and restrictions
  as the public health and welfare may require.  Notice of application for
  such  consent  shall  be  published,  once  a week for six weeks, in the
  newspapers designated to publish the session  laws  and  in  such  other
  newspapers  published  in  the  county as such board or body may direct,
  stating the time when the application will be made, a brief  description
  of  the  lands  proposed  to  be  acquired,  their location and the area
  thereof.    Any  person  interested  therein  may  be  heard   on   such
  presentation.    If such consent is granted the corporation may take and
  hold the lands designated therein.  The consent shall not authorize  any
  one corporation to take or hold more than two hundred and fifty acres of
  land.  Nothing contained in this subdivision shall prevent any religious
  corporation   in   existence   on   April  fifteenth,  eighteen  hundred
  fifty-four, in any of said counties from using as heretofore any  burial
  ground  then  belonging  to  it within such county.  Such board or body,
  from time to time, may  make  such  regulation  as  to  burials  in  any
  cemetery in the county as the public health may require.
    (d)    Limitation  on  the  acquisition  of  land  by  rural  cemetery
  corporations.  It shall not be lawful for any rural cemetery corporation
  hereafter to acquire or take by deed, devise or otherwise, any  land  in
  any  county within the state of New York, having a population of between
  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  thousand  and  two  hundred   thousand,
  according  to  the  federal census of nineteen hundred, or set apart any
  ground for cemetery purposes therein, where there has already  been  set
  apart  in any such county, five hundred acres of land for rural cemetery
  purposes, and the consent of the board of supervisors of any such county
  shall not be granted where there has already been granted  five  hundred
  acres  of  land,  or  upwards,  within  such  county,  to rural cemetery
  corporations.   But nothing herein contained  shall  affect  any  lawful
  consent  or  grant hitherto made by the board of supervisors of any such
  county.
    (e)  Limitations on the acquisition of land for cemetery  purposes  in
  certain  counties.    (1)    It shall not be lawful for any corporation,
  association or person  hereafter  to  set  aside  or  use  for  cemetery
  purposes  any  lands in any county within the state erected on and after
  January first, eighteen hundred ninety, adjoining a city  of  the  first
  class and having a population of between eighty thousand and eighty-five
  thousand  according  to  the federal census of nineteen hundred ten; but
  nothing herein contained  shall  prevent  cemetery  corporations  formed
  prior  to  January  first, nineteen hundred seventeen, which own in such
  county a cemetery in which burials have been made prior  to  such  date,
  from  setting apart and using for burial purposes lands lying contiguous
  or adjacent to such cemetery which lands have been  heretofore  acquired
  by  a  recorded  deed  of conveyance made to such a cemetery corporation
  either for burial purposes,  or  for  the  purposes  of  the  convenient
  transaction  of  its  general  business,  which  lands  shall  have been
  acquired with the consent of the board of supervisors; nor  to  prohibit
  the  dedication  or use of land within such county for a family cemetery
  as provided in subdivision (c) of section fourteen hundred one  of  this
  chapter.
    (2)    The provisions of this subdivision shall not operate to prevent
  any such cemetery corporation located in Nassau county  from  using  for
  burial  purposes  contiguous  or  adjacent  land acquired by it prior to
  January  first,  nineteen  hundred  forty-eight   provided   that   such
  acquisition  shall  have consisted of less than five acres, and provided
  further that such use shall be consented to by the board of supervisors.
    (f)  Conveyance by religious corporations or by trustees.  A  cemetery
  corporation may accept a conveyance of real property held by a religious
  corporation for burial purposes, or by trustees for such purposes if all
  such trustees living and residing in this state unite in the conveyance,
  subject  to  all  trusts,  restrictions and conditions upon the title or
  use.  Lots previously sold and grants for burial purposes shall  not  be
  affected  by any such conveyance; nor shall any grave, monument or other
  erection, or any remains, be disturbed or removed without the consent of
  the lot owner, or if there be no such owner, without the consent of  the
  heirs of the persons whose remains are buried in such grave.
    (g)    Certain  conveyances to cemetery corporations authorized.  Upon
  approval of the cemetery board first having been  obtained,  a  cemetery
  corporation  which  maintains  and  operates  a  cemetery  may  accept a
  conveyance of title to the fee of or to burial rights  in  lands  within
  the confines of said cemetery and it shall be lawful for any cemetery or
  business corporation to make such conveyances.  Lots previously sold and
  grants previously made for burial purposes shall not be affected by such
  conveyance.      The  cemetery  corporation,  in  consideration  of  the
  conveyance to it of burial rights in lands within the confines  of  said
  cemetery,   may,   with  the  approval  of  the  cemetery  board,  issue
  participating certificates of  the  kind  and  nature  provided  for  in
  paragraph  three of subdivision (e) of section fifteen hundred eleven of
  this article.   In making its determination  the  cemetery  board  shall
  consider and may condition its approval on the purposes of this section.
    (h)    Acquisition of property by condemnation.  If the certificate of
  incorporation or by-laws of a cemetery corporation do  not  exclude  any
  person,  on  equal  terms  with  other  persons,  from  the privilege of
  purchasing a lot or of burial in its  cemetery,  such  corporation  may,
  from time to time, acquire by condemnation, exclusively for the purposes
  of a cemetery, not more than two hundred acres of land in the aggregate,
  forming  one  continuous  tract,  wholly  or partly within the county in
  which its certificate of incorporation is filed or recorded,  except  as
  in  this  section otherwise provided as to the counties of Erie, Nassau,
  Suffolk, Putnam, Kings, Queens, Rockland and Westchester.    A  cemetery
  corporation may acquire by condemnation, exclusively for the purposes of
  a  cemetery,  any  real  property  or  any interest therein necessary to
  supply water for the uses of such cemetery, and the right to lay, relay,
  repair and maintain  conduits  and  water  pipes  with  connections  and
  fixtures,  in,  through  or  over  the  lands of others and the right to
  intercept  and  divert  the  flow  of  waters from the lands of riparian
  owners, and from persons owning or interested in any  waters.    But  no
  such cemetery corporation shall have power to take or use water from any
  of  the canals of this state, or any canal reservoirs as feeders, or any
  streams which have been taken by the state for the purpose of  supplying
  the  canals  with  water.  A cemetery corporation may acquire, otherwise
  than by condemnation, real property as  aforesaid  and  additional  real
  property,  not  exceeding in value two hundred thousand dollars, for the
  purposes of the convenient transactions of its business, no  portion  of
  which shall be used for the purposes of a cemetery.
    (i) Sale or disposition of cemetery lands. (1) No cemetery corporation
  may sell or dispose of the fee of all or any part of its lands dedicated
  to  cemetery  use,  unless  it  shall  prove  to the satisfaction of the
  supreme court in the district where any portion of the cemetery lands is
  located, either: (A) that all bodies have been  removed  from  each  and
  every  part  of  the  cemetery, that all the lots in the entire cemetery
  have been reconveyed to the corporation and  are  not  used  for  burial
  purposes, and that it has no debts and liabilities, or (B) that the land
  to be sold or disposed of is not used or is not physically adaptable for
  burial  purposes  and  that  the  sale  or  disposition will benefit the
  cemetery corporation and the owners of plots and graves in the cemetery,
  and (C) that the sale or disposition is  not  to  a  funeral  entity  as
  defined  in  paragraph  (c)  of  section  fifteen  hundred six-a of this
  article. (2) If the sale or disposition is made pursuant to subparagraph
  (A) of subdivision one of this paragraph, the cemetery shall satisfy the
  court that it is in the public interest to dispose of such cemetery land
  in the manner proposed; that  the  subject  land  is  not  suitable  for
  cemetery  purposes  or  is  no  longer  needed by the community for such
  cemetery uses or purposes; and that the subject land is being  sold  for
  its  current market value. (3) If the sale or disposition of the land is
  made pursuant to subparagraph (B) of subdivision one of this  paragraph,
  the  court  shall  order that the consideration received by the cemetery
  corporation, less the necessary expenses incurred,  shall  be  deposited
  into   the  permanent  maintenance  fund  established  by  the  cemetery
  corporation pursuant to paragraph (a) of section fifteen  hundred  seven
  of  this article. (4) Notice of any application hereunder shall be given
  to the cemetery board, to the holders of  certificates  of  indebtedness
  and  land  shares  of  the  cemetery  corporation,  and  to  any  person
  interested in the proceeding pursuant to section five hundred eleven  of
  this chapter (Petition for leave of court).
    (j)    Conveyance  by  cemetery  corporation  to  city or village.   A
  cemetery corporation may convey and transfer its real property held  for
  burial  purposes,  together  with  its  other assets, to a city having a
  population of less than one  million  inhabitants  in  which  such  real
  property  is  located,  or  to a village, provided such real property is
  located within  such  village  or  wholly  within  three  miles  of  the
  boundaries  thereof,  or  to  a  town,  in  which  such real property is
  located, if all the directors and trustees of such cemetery  corporation
  living and residing in the state of New York unite in the conveyance and
  transfer.   Such  conveyance  and  transfer  shall  be  subject  to  all
  agreements as to lots sold and all trusts, restrictions  and  conditions
  upon the title or use of such real property and assets.  Lots previously
  sold  and  grants  previously  made  for  burial  purposes  shall not be
  affected by such conveyance, nor shall  any  grave,  monument  or  other
  erection be disturbed or removed except in accordance with law.  No such
  conveyance  shall  be effective unless and until the legislative body of
  such city, town or village shall by ordinance or resolution  accept  the
  same  subject  to  the  conditions and restrictions hereinabove imposed,
  which ordinance or resolution said legislative body is hereby authorized
  and  empowered  to  adopt  by  a majority vote of such body.   Upon such
  conveyance and transfer such property shall be and  become  a  municipal
  cemetery  of  such city, town or village and such property and assets so
  conveyed and transferred shall be administered as  any  other  municipal
  cemetery of such city, town or village and the said cemetery corporation
  shall be dissolved by the recording of such conveyance and transfer.
    (k)    Streets or highways not to be laid out through certain cemetery
  lands. So long as the lands of a rural  cemetery  corporation  organized
  under  the  act  entitled "An act authorizing the incorporation of rural
  cemetery associations," constituting chapter one hundred thirty-three of
  the laws of  eighteen  hundred  forty-seven,  and  the  acts  amendatory
  thereof, shall remain dedicated to the purpose of a cemetery, no street,
  road,  avenue  or  public  thoroughfare  shall  be laid out through such
  cemetery, or any part of the lands held  by  such  association  for  the
  purposes  aforesaid,  without  the  consent  of  the  trustees  of  such
  association and the cemetery board.
    (l) Exclusive right of cemetery corporation  to  provide  annual  care
  services. Notwithstanding any provision of this article to the contrary,
  it  shall  be  the right of each cemetery corporation, at its option, to
  exclusively provide  all  annual  care  services  to  be  performed  for
  consideration on all or any part of its lands at rates to be reviewed by
  the cemetery board. In the event that the cemetery board determines that
  an  excessive,  unauthorized  or  improper charge has been made for such
  services or that the services have not been properly  performed,  he  or
  she  may  direct the cemetery corporation to pay to the person from whom
  such charge was collected a sum equivalent to three times the excess  as
  determined  by  the  cemetery board, or in the case of work not properly
  performed, it may direct the cemetery corporation to  perform  the  work
  properly.  Every  cemetery  corporation  that  chooses to provide, on an
  exclusive basis, such annual care services shall include in any contract
  for the sale of any part of its lands the following notice, in at  least
  ten point bold type:
                                    Notice
    The                     (name  of  cemetery  corporation), pursuant to
  state  law,  provides  annual  care  services  on  an  exclusive  basis.
  Therefore,  the  purchaser  of the plot or lot being transferred by this
  agreement may not contract with any outside party for such  annual  care
  services.  For  purposes of this paragraph, the term "annual care" shall
  mean the maintenance of a lot, plot or part  thereof,  and  may  include
  care of lawns, trees, shrubs, monuments and markers within the plot. The
  provisions  of  this  paragraph shall not be construed to prohibit a lot
  owner  from  placing,  or  arranging  to  place,   floral   or   similar
  arrangements on such cemetery lots or plots.