Bill Text: VA SB445 | 2020 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Cemeteries; acquisition of abandoned lots in cities and certain towns.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2020-04-06 - Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0669) [SB445 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2020-SB445-Chaptered.html
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §§57-39.2 through 57-39.7 of the Code of Virginia are amended and reenacted as follows:
§57-39.2. Reversion of unoccupied cemetery lots in cities and certain towns; rebuttable presumption.
The ownership of or right or interest in any unoccupied
cemetery lot in any cemetery located in any city or in any town in any
county, which county has a population of not less than 24,500 nor more than
25,600 the Counties of Scott and Wythe, or in any town in any county
having the urban county executive form of government, which cemetery is under
the ownership and charge of such city or town, or any corporation, association,
or trustees, shall, upon abandonment, revert to such city, town, corporation,
association, or trustees having ownership and charge of the cemetery
containing any such lot. The continued failure to maintain or care for an
unoccupied cemetery lot in any cemetery for a period of at least
thirty 30 years, whether such period shall have elapsed prior to
the effective date hereof or subsequent thereto, shall create and
establish a rebuttable presumption that the same such lot has
been abandoned.
§57-39.3. Proceedings; determination of abandonment.
Any city, town, corporation, association, or trustees
having ownership and charge of a cemetery which that is located
in a city, or town in a county, as provided in the preceding section (§
57-39.2), may file a verified bill in equity petition in
the circuit court having equity jurisdiction within whose jurisdiction
the cemetery is situated, setting forth its or their ownership of the
cemetery and facts relating to the continued failure by the owner of an
unoccupied cemetery lot in such cemetery to maintain and care for the same
such lot for at least thirty 30 consecutive years immediately
preceding thereto, and pray for requesting an order
adjudging any such lot to be abandoned. Upon the filing of such bill
petition, the court upon proper motion shall set a date for a hearing
thereon.
§57-39.4. Notice to owner of record; publication.
Not less than twenty At least 20 days before the
date fixed for the hearing, a notice declaring that the unoccupied cemetery lot
has been presumed to be abandoned, and setting forth the date fixed for
the hearing, shall be (i) (a) served personally upon the recorded
owner thereof, or his heirs, if the recorded owner is known by the
cemetery to be dead and upon such heirs whose names and addresses have been
filed with the cemetery, or shall be (b) served by mailing the
notice by registered mail to the last known address of the recorded owner
thereof, or his heirs, if the recorded owner is known by the cemetery to
be dead and to such heirs whose names and addresses have been filed with the
cemetery, and by publishing the notice (ii) published once a week
for four consecutive weeks in a newspaper having general circulation in the
city or town in which the cemetery is located. Thereupon, it It
shall be the duty of such recorded owner or his heirs, as the case may be,
to appear and make answer to the allegations of said bill and any
a petition filed pursuant to §57-39.3. Any such appearance and answer
shall rebut the presumption of abandonment.
§57-39.5. Judicial determination; conveyance of title.
At the hearing authorized by the preceding section §
57-39.4, the proofs of the parties or the petition in the event of the
failure of the recorded owner or his heirs to appear and answer shall be
presented, and if the court shall determine therefrom, or upon
the verified bill in event of the failure of the recorded owner or his heirs,
as the case may be, to appear and answer, that if the unoccupied
cemetery lot set forth in the bill petition has been abandoned,.
If the court shall enter enters a decree adjudging the
same such lot to be abandoned, and it shall further
provide that the city, town, corporation, association, or trustees
having ownership and charge of the cemetery containing any such lot shall have
the right to sell the same, conveying good title thereto, such lot
and to use the proceeds derived therefrom in the manner and for the purposes
hereinafter provided by this article.
§57-39.6. Sale of abandoned cemetery lot.
At any time after entry of the decree adjudicating any
unoccupied cemetery lot to be abandoned pursuant to §57-39.5, the city,
town, corporation, association, or trustees having ownership and charge
of the cemetery containing any such lot may sell the same such lot
in accordance with the rules and regulations of the cemetery then in force
governing generally the sale of cemetery lots. Any proceeds derived
therefrom from this sale shall first be used to defray the costs and
expenses incurred in any abandonment proceedings, and the balance thereof.
Unless otherwise directed by the court, the remaining balance shall,
unless otherwise directed by the court, be placed in a special fund, known
as the "Perpetual Care Fund" of the cemetery, to be used by the
cemetery solely for the future maintenance, care, and upkeep of the
cemetery.
§57-39.7. Applicability; abandonment determination limited in certain circumstances.
Sections 57-39.2 through 57.39.6 shall be construed to apply
to and authorize a determination of abandonment of any unoccupied part of a
cemetery lot. In any proceeding to determine the abandonment of an unoccupied
part of a cemetery lot, the court shall in the exercise of its equity
jurisdiction, also determine what part, if any, shall be considered as
having been abandoned. Such sections shall not be construed to apply to and
authorize a determination of abandonment of the following: (1) (i)
that part of a cemetery lot wherein there has been an interment; or (2),
(ii) any cemetery lot or part thereof to which unrestricted fee simple
title has been conveyed by a cemetery; or (3), or (iii) any
cemetery lot or part thereof for which perpetual care has been provided by
contract with the city, town, corporation, association, or trustees
having ownership and charge of the cemetery containing any such lot or part
thereof.
