Public Act 093-0772
 
HB2572 Enrolled LRB093 04098 LCB 04138 b

    AN ACT in relation to property.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The Cemetery Protection Act is amended by
changing Section 16 and by adding Section 14.5 as follows:
 
    (765 ILCS 835/14.5 new)
    Sec. 14.5. Correction of encroachment on interment,
entombment, or inurnment rights.
    (a) Whenever a cemetery becomes aware that there is an
encroachment on or in the lawful interment, inurnment, or
entombment rights of another, and when the cemetery buried or
placed or permitted the burial or placement of the encroaching
item in or on these rights, the cemetery may correct the
encroachment in accordance with this Section. This Section
shall not apply to, or be utilized in connection with, any
eminent domain, quick-take, or other condemnation proceeding
that is designed to relocate a cemetery or portion thereof to
another location.
    (b) When the encroaching item is a marker, monument or
memorial that should be placed on or in another interment,
inurnment, or entombment right located within the cemetery, or
when the item is the foundation or base for any of the
foregoing, the cemetery may with reasonable promptness, and
without being required to obtain any permit, relocate the item
to its proper place. Notice of the corrective action shall be
given no later than 30 days following the correction in
accordance with subsection (d) of this Section.
    (c) When the encroaching item is a vault, casket, urn,
outer burial container, or human remains that should be placed
in or on another interment, inurnment, or entombment right
located within the cemetery, the cemetery may with reasonable
promptness, and without being required to obtain any permit,
relocate the item to its proper place. Except as otherwise
provided in this subsection, notice of the corrective action
shall be given no later than 30 days prior to the correction in
accordance with subsection (d) of this Section. When the
involved encroachment would, if uncorrected within 30 days,
interfere with a scheduled interment, inurnment, or
entombment, then the notice shall be given in accordance with
subsection (d) of this Section with as much advance notice as
reasonably possible or, if advance notice is not reasonably
possible, no later than 30 days following the correction. In
the event the correction is to occur in a religious cemetery
that, for religious reasons, maintains rules that preclude
advance notice of corrections, the notice shall occur no later
than 30 days following the correction.
    (d) Notice under this Section shall be by certified mail or
other delivery method that has a confirmation procedure, in
12-point type, to the owner of any affected interment,
inurnment, or entombment right or, when the owner is deceased,
to the surviving spouse of the deceased, or if none, any
surviving children of the deceased, or if no surviving spouse
or children, a parent, brother, or sister of the deceased, or,
if failing all of the above, any other listed heir of the
deceased in the cemetery records. In providing notice, the
cemetery authority shall exercise due diligence to engage in a
reasonable search of available funeral home of record or
cemetery records to obtain the current address of the party to
be notified. The notice shall provide a clear statement of the
correction taken or to be taken, together with the reasons for
the correction, and shall outline a simple process for the
notified person to obtain additional information regarding the
correction from the cemetery. When advance notice is required,
the notice shall inform the notified party of his or her right
to be present for any reinterment, reinurnment, or
reentombment, as well as his or her option to object by
obtaining an injunction enjoining the contemplated correction.
The cemetery shall maintain for no less than 5 years a record
of any notice provided under this Section.
    (e) Nothing in this Section shall make a cemetery
financially responsible for the correction of encroachments
that are directly or indirectly caused by the owner of an
interment, inurnment, or entombment right or by his or her
heirs or by an act of God, war, or vandalism. The cemetery
shall be financially responsible for the correction of all
other encroachments covered by this Section.
    (f) Nothing in this Section shall be construed to limit the
liability of any party.
 
    (765 ILCS 835/16)
    Sec. 16. When a multiple interment right owner becomes
deceased, the ownership of any unused rights of interment shall
pass in accordance with the specific bequest in the decedent's
will. If there is no will or specific bequest then the
ownership and use of the unused rights of interment shall be
determined by a cemetery authority in accordance with the
information set out on a standard affidavit for cemetery
interment rights use form if such a form has been prepared. The
unused right of interment shall be used for the interment of
the first deceased heir listed on the standard affidavit and
continue in sequence until all listed heirs are deceased. In
the event that an interment right is not used, the interment
right shall pass to the heirs of the heirs of the deceased
interment right owner in perpetuity. This shall not preclude
the ability of the heirs to sell said interment rights, in the
event that all listed living heirs are in agreement. If the
standard affidavit for cemetery interment rights use, showing
heirship of decedent interment right owner's living heirs is
provided to and followed by a cemetery authority, the cemetery
authority shall be released of any liability in relying on that
affidavit.
    The following is the form of the standard affidavit:
 
STATE OF ILLINOIS             )
                              ) SS
COUNTY OF ....................)
 
AFFIDAVIT FOR CEMETERY INTERMENT RIGHTS USE
I, .............., being first duly sworn on oath depose and
say that:
    1. A. My place of residence is ........................
        B. My post office address is .......................
        C. I understand that I am providing the information
    contained in this affidavit to the ............
    ("Cemetery") and the Cemetery shall, in the absence of
    directions to the contrary in my will, rely on this
    information to allow the listed individuals to be interred
    in any unused interment rights in the order of their death.
        D. I understand that, if I am an out-of-state resident,
    I submit myself to the jurisdiction of Illinois courts for
    all matters related to the preparation and use of this
    affidavit. My agent for service of process in Illinois is:
        Name ................. Address .....................
        City ................. Telephone ...................
 
    Items 2 through 6 must be completed by the executor of the
decedent's estate, a personal representative, owner's
surviving spouse, or surviving heir.
    2. The decedent's name is ..............................
    3. The date of decedent's death was ....................
    4. The decedent's place of residence immediately before his
or her death was ........................................
    5. My relationship to the decedent is ..................
and I am authorized to sign and file this affidavit.
    6. At the time of death, the decedent (had no) (had a)
surviving spouse. The name of the surviving spouse, if any, is
....................., and he or she (has) (has not) remarried.
    7. The following is a list of the cemetery interment rights
that may be used by the heirs if the owner is deceased:
.............................................................
.............................................................
    8. The following persons have an ownership interest in and
the a right to use the cemetery interment rights in the order
of their death:
.......................... Address ..........................
.......................... Address ..........................
.......................... Address ..........................
.......................... Address ..........................
.......................... Address ..........................
.......................... Address ..........................
.......................... Address ..........................
    9. This affidavit is made for the purpose of obtaining the
consent of the undersigned to transfer the right of interment
at the above mentioned cemetery property to the listed heirs.
Affiants agree that they will save, hold harmless, and
indemnify Cemetery, its heirs, successors, employees, and
assigns, from all claims, loss, or damage whatsoever that may
result from relying on this affidavit to record said transfer
in its records and allow interments on the basis of the
information contained in this affidavit.
 
    WHEREFORE affiant requests Cemetery to recognize the above
named heirs-at-law as those rightfully entitled to the
ownership of and use of said interment (spaces) (space).
 
THE FOREGOING STATEMENT IS MADE UNDER THE PENALTIES OF PERJURY.
(A FRAUDULENT STATEMENT MADE UNDER THE PENALTIES OF PERJURY IS
PERJURY AS DEFINED IN THE CRIMINAL CODE OF 1961.)
    Dated this ........ day of .............., .....
 
    ................... (Seal) (To be signed by the owner or
    the individual who completes items 2 through 6 above.)
Subscribed and sworn to before me, a Notary Public in and for
the County and State of .............. aforesaid this ........
day of ..............., .....
 
............................ Notary Public.
(Source: P.A. 92-419, eff. 1-1-02.)