2006 New York Code - Sale Of Burial Rights.

 
  § 1513. Sale of burial rights.
    (a)  Conveyance  of  lots.  (1)  Except  as otherwise provided in this
  subdivision the right to use any lot, plot or part thereof may  be  sold
  or  conveyed only by the cemetery corporation.  (2) It shall be unlawful
  for any person, firm or  corporation  to  purchase  or  for  a  cemetery
  corporation  to  sell  a  lot,  plot  or part thereof for the purpose of
  resale. This provision, however, shall not  prohibit  the  sale  to  its
  members  of  lots,  plots or parts thereof, or the right to use any lot,
  plot or part thereof,  by  a  membership  or  religious  corporation  or
  unincorporated association or society which provides burial benefits for
  its members.  (3) It shall be unlawful for a cemetery corporation to pay
  or  offer  to  pay,  or  for any person, firm or corporation to receive,
  directly or indirectly, a commission, bonus, rebate or other  things  of
  value  for,  or  in  connection  with, the sale of any lot, plot or part
  thereof, or the sale of space in a public mausoleum, or  the  furnishing
  by  or  through  the  cemetery  corporation of any service, merchandise,
  wares, goods or articles. The provisions of  this  paragraph  shall  not
  apply  to  a  person  regularly  employed and supervised by the cemetery
  corporation. (4) A violation of  this  subdivision  shall  constitute  a
  misdemeanor  and  shall  be  punishable  by a fine of not more than five
  hundred dollars or not more than six months imprisonment or  both.  Each
  violation shall constitute a separate offense.
    (b)  Prices  for  burial rights and instruments of conveyance. (1) The
  directors must fix and determine the prices of the burial lots, plots or
  parts thereof, and keep a plainly printed copy of the schedules of  such
  prices  conspicuously  posted in each of the offices of the corporation,
  open at all reasonable times to inspection, and shall file a schedule of
  such prices in  the  office  of  the  cemetery  board.  (2)  Unless  its
  certificate  of  incorporation or by-laws otherwise provide, and subject
  to its rules and regulations, the corporation shall sell and  convey  to
  any person the use of the lots, plots or parts thereof designated on the
  map  filed in the office of the corporation, on payment of the prices so
  fixed and determined, but need not sell and convey more  than  one  lot,
  plot  or  part thereof to any one person. Conveyances of lots, plots and
  parts thereof shall be signed by the  president  or  vice-president  and
  treasurer  or assistant treasurer of the corporation. A written contract
  for the sale or use of a lot, plot or part thereof shall  have  attached
  thereto  and  made a part thereof a copy of the rules and regulations of
  the cemetery corporation or such parts of such rules and regulations  as
  relate  to  the  size  and  placement of monuments, restrictions on plot
  usage, warranties, obligations of the cemetery corporation and financial
  obligations and duties of the lot owner. If a lot, plot or part  thereof
  is  sold  without  a written contract, the corporation shall, before any
  part of the purchase price is paid by  the  purchaser,  deliver  to  the
  purchaser  a  copy of the rules and regulations or such parts thereof as
  would be required to be attached to a written contract. Nothing in  this
  subdivision  shall  prevent  the  subsequent amendment of such rules and
  regulations to  increase  the  charges  for  services  rendered  by  the
  corporation  or  in  other  particulars  by  or  with the consent of the
  cemetery board under section fifteen hundred nine of this article. (3) A
  cemetery corporation that shall sell a lot, plot  or  part  thereof,  in
  excess  of  the  price  shown on the schedule filed in the office of the
  cemetery board, and any person acting for or on behalf of  the  cemetery
  corporation  in  connection  with  such  sale, shall each forfeit to the
  people of the state of New York a sum  equivalent  to  three  times  the
  excess  amount  so paid. Such penalty may be recovered in a civil action
  by the cemetery board. (4) The instrument of conveyance  of  any  burial
  lot,  plot or part thereof shall include the actual amount paid therefor
  and a description showing the dimensions of the property  conveyed,  and
  the plot number, section and block number as they appear on the cemetery
  map.
    (c) Resale by lot owner. Before any burial shall have been made in any
  such  lot, plot or part thereof, or, if all the bodies therein have been
  lawfully removed, the lot owner may sell or convey  such  lot,  plot  or
  part  thereof  subject to the prior approval of the cemetery board. Such
  approval shall not be granted unless the owner of such lot, plot or part
  thereof shall have offered it to the  cemetery  corporation  within  two
  years  prior  to  the  application  for  such  approval,  in  writing by
  registered or certified mail, at the price paid  therefor  by  said  lot
  owner,  together with simple interest at the rate of four per centum per
  annum, and the cemetery corporation shall have  failed  to  accept  such
  offer  within thirty days after the making thereof. In the event the lot
  owner shall have acquired the lot, plot or part thereof  other  than  by
  purchase, and provided the cemetery corporation and the lot owner cannot
  agree  upon  a  price, the cemetery board shall fix a price therefor. In
  arriving at the price the cemetery board shall take  into  consideration
  the original price for which the cemetery corporation sold the lot, plot
  or  part  thereof, and any other circumstances or factor which equitably
  relates to the price. The secretary of the  cemetery  corporation  shall
  file  and  record in its books all instruments of transfer. An owner may
  convey or devise to the corporation his right and title in  and  to  any
  such lot, plot or part thereof.
    (d) Lots held in inalienable form. (1) No portion of the cemetery of a
  cemetery  corporation  which  any  person  other than the corporation is
  entitled to use for burial purposes, or in which bodies have been buried
  and not removed, shall be sold, mortgaged or leased by the  corporation.
  A  cemetery corporation may convey any lot so that upon such conveyance,
  or after an interment therein, such lot shall  be  forever  inalienable,
  and upon the death of the lot owner shall pass to such person or persons
  as  may  be  designated  in  the conveyance or if no such designation be
  made, shall descend as provided in section  fifteen  hundred  twelve  of
  this article. Any one or more of the owners of such a lot may release or
  devise  to  any  other  owner  of  the  lot his interest therein on such
  conditions as shall be specified in the release or will. (2) Any  person
  who  is  the  sole owner of the burial rights in a cemetery lot, plot or
  any part thereof, in which a burial has been made, may give  his  entire
  interest,  or,  if  not  prohibited  by the rules and regulations of the
  cemetery corporation, any portion thereof to any person within the third
  degree of consanguinity to the owner, or, in  the  event  that  no  such
  person  exists, within the fourth degree of consanguinity to such owner.
  Such conveyance shall be made subject to the right of interment  of  the
  spouse of any deceased owner, which right said spouse may release at any
  time,  but no conveyance or devise by any other person shall deprive the
  surviving spouse of such right. Burial  rights  shall  not  be  conveyed
  pursuant  to  the  provisions  of this subparagraph more frequently than
  once in any ten-year period. (3) A cemetery  corporation  may  take  and
  hold  any  lot  conveyed  or  devised  to  it  by  the lot owner so that
  thereafter it will be inalienable, and the interments therein  shall  be
  restricted  to  such  person or class of persons as may be designated in
  the conveyance or devise.  (4) The title of a lot  owner  shall  not  be
  affected  by  the  dissolution  of  the  corporation, by non-user of its
  corporate rights and franchises by any act of forfeiture on its part, by
  any alienation of  its  property  or  by  incumbrance  thereon  made  or
  suffered by it.