N.Y. Not-for-Profit Corporation Law § 1513: Sale of burial rights

§ 1513. Sale of burial rights.

(a) Conveyance of lots. (1) Except as otherwise provided in this

paragraph 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) Notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of this

paragraph, and subject to the provisions of section fifteen hundred

sixteen of this article, a cemetery corporation may enter into a

contract with a third-party vendor to create and maintain a website for

the purposes of 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 third-party vendor may charge a fee for a transaction made

through this website, provided that a fee for all such transactions is

specified in the contract and is not dependent on or related to the

value of the lot, goods or services to be sold by the cemetery

corporation. (5) A violation of this paragraph 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 upon notice to the cemetery. Such sale shall only occur in

those instances where the owner of such lot, plot or part thereof shall

have offered it to the cemetery corporation within one year prior to the

sale, 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.

Subsequent to the receipt of notice of sale of such lot, plot or part

thereof, 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.