093_SB1091

 
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 1        AN ACT concerning cemeteries.

 2        Be it enacted by the People of  the  State  of  Illinois,
 3    represented in the General Assembly:

 4        Section  5.   The  Cemetery  Protection Act is amended by
 5    changing Sections 9, 10, and 13 as follows:

 6        (765 ILCS 835/9) (from Ch. 21, par. 21.2)
 7        Sec. 9.  Presumption of abandonment.
 8        (a)  When there  is  no  memorial,  monument,  or  marker
 9    installed  on a cemetery lot; no interment in a cemetery lot;
10    no transfer or assignment of a cemetery lot on  the  cemetery
11    authority  records;  no  contact  by an owner recorded in the
12    cemetery authority records; publication has been  made  in  a
13    local  newspaper  and  no response was received; and 60 years
14    have passed since the cemetery  lot  was  sold,  there  is  a
15    presumption   that  the  cemetery  lot  has  been  abandoned.
16    Alternatively, where there is an obligation to pay a cemetery
17    authority, annually  or  periodically,  maintenance  or  care
18    charges  on a cemetery lot, or part thereof, and the owner of
19    or claimant to  a  right  or  easement  for  burial  in  such
20    cemetery lot, or part thereof, has failed to pay the required
21    annual  or  periodic maintenance or care charges for a period
22    of 30 years or more, such continuous failure to do so creates
23    and establishes a presumption that the cemetery lot, or  part
24    thereof, has been abandoned.
25        (b)  Where  there  is no obligation to pay maintenance or
26    care charges, a cemetery authority may  initiate  abandonment
27    proceedings  under  this  Act  only  where it can demonstrate
28    that:
29             (1) the cemetery lot or  lots  have  been  sold  and
30        unused for more than 50 years;
31             (2)  no  correspondence  has  been  received from an
 
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 1        owner of or claimant to a right or easement for burial in
 2        such cemetery lot or lots by the cemetery  authority  for
 3        more than 30 years;
 4             (3)  no  claim or notice of assignment, inheritance,
 5        sale, or other transfer of a right or easement for burial
 6        in the cemetery lot or lots  has  been  received  by  the
 7        cemetery authority for more than 30 years; and
 8             (4)    the    cemetery   authority   has   attempted
 9        unsuccessfully to contact the  last  known  owner  of  or
10        claimant  to  the  right  or  easement  for burial in the
11        cemetery lot or lots by certified  mail,  return  receipt
12        requested, at the owner or claimant's last known address.
13        (c)  Upon  a  court's  determination  of abandonment, the
14    ownership of a right or easement for  burial  in  a  cemetery
15    lot,  or part thereof, shall be subject to sale in the manner
16    hereinafter provided.
17    (Source: P.A. 92-419, eff. 1-1-02.)

18        (765 ILCS 835/10) (from Ch. 21, par. 21.3)
19        Sec. 10.  A cemetery authority may file in the office  of
20    the  clerk  of  the  circuit court of the county in which the
21    cemetery is located a verified petition praying for the entry
22    of an order adjudging a cemetery lot,  or  part  thereof,  to
23    have   been  abandoned.   The  petition  shall  describe  the
24    cemetery  lot,  or  part  thereof,  alleged  to   have   been
25    abandoned,  shall  allege  ownership by the petitioner of the
26    cemetery, and, if known, the name of the owner of  the  right
27    or easement for burial in such cemetery lot, or part thereof,
28    as  is  alleged  to  have  been  abandoned,  or, if the owner
29    thereof is known to the petitioner to be deceased,  then  the
30    names,  if  known to petitioner, of such claimants thereto as
31    are the heirs-at-law and next-of-kin or the specific legatees
32    under the will of the owner of  the  right  or  easement  for
33    burial  in such lot, or part thereof, and such other facts as
 
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 1    the petitioner may have with  respect  to  ownership  of  the
 2    right  or  easement  for burial in such cemetery lot, or part
 3    thereof.
 4        Where applicable, the  petition  shall  also  allege  the
 5    facts  with respect to the abandonment of the cemetery lot or
 6    facts about the obligation of the  owner  to  pay  annual  or
 7    periodic maintenance or care charges on such cemetery lot, or
 8    part  thereof,  the  amount  of  such  charges as are due and
 9    unpaid, and shall also allege the continuous failure  by  the
10    owner  or  claimant  to  pay  such charges for a period of 30
11    consecutive years or more.
12        Irrespective of diversity of ownership of  the  right  or
13    easement for burial therein, a cemetery authority may include
14    in  one  petition as many cemetery lots, or parts thereof, as
15    are alleged to have been abandoned.
16    (Source: P.A. 92-419, eff. 1-1-02.)

17        (765 ILCS 835/13) (from Ch. 21, par. 21.6)
18        Sec. 13.  In the event that, at any time within one  year
19    after adjudication of abandonment, the owner or claimant of a
20    lot,  or  part  thereof,  which  has been adjudged abandoned,
21    shall provide written notice to the cemetery authority of his
22    or her continuing claim of right or easement  for  burial  in
23    the  cemetery  lot  or  lots, including a correct address for
24    future notices and a payment of a reinstatement  fee  of  $50
25    or,   where   abandonment   has  been  presumed  pursuant  to
26    subsection (a) of Section 9 of this Act,  shall  contact  the
27    court  or  the  cemetery authority and pay all maintenance or
28    care charges that are due and  unpaid,  shall  reimburse  the
29    cemetery  authority  for  the  costs  of  suit  and necessary
30    expenses incurred in the proceeding with respect to such lot,
31    or part thereof, and shall contract for its future  care  and
32    maintenance,  then  such  lot,  or part thereof, shall not be
33    sold as herein provided and, upon petition of  the  owner  or
 
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 1    claimant,  the  order  or judgment adjudging the same to have
 2    been abandoned shall be vacated  as  to  such  lot,  or  part
 3    thereof.
 4    (Source: P.A. 92-419, eff. 1-1-02.)