Revised Statutes of Missouri, RSMo Section 214.270 - MO.gov

&#; 214.270.  Definitions. &#; As used in sections 214.270 to 214.410, the following terms mean:

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&#; (1)  "Agent" or "authorized agent", any person empowered by the cemetery operator to represent the operator in dealing with the general public, including owners of the burial space in the cemetery;

&#; (2)  "Burial merchandise", a monument, marker, memorial, tombstone, headstone, urn, outer burial container, or similar article which may contain specific lettering, shape, color, or design as specified by the purchaser;

&#; (3)  "Burial space", one or more than one plot, grave, mausoleum, crypt, lawn, surface lawn crypt, niche or space used or intended for the interment of the human dead;

&#; (4)  "Cemetery", property restricted in use for the interment of the human dead by formal dedication or reservation by deed but shall not include any of the foregoing held or operated by the state or federal government or any political subdivision thereof, any incorporated city or town, any county or any religious organization, cemetery association or fraternal society holding the same for sale solely to members and their immediate families;

&#; (5)  "Cemetery association", any number of persons who shall have associated themselves by articles of agreement in writing as a not-for-profit association or organization, whether incorporated or unincorporated, formed for the purpose of ownership, preservation, care, maintenance, adornment and administration of a cemetery.  Cemetery associations shall be governed by a board of directors.  Directors shall serve without compensation;

&#; (6)  "Cemetery operator" or "operator", any person who owns, controls, operates or manages a cemetery;

&#; (7)  "Cemetery prearranged contract", any contract with a cemetery or cemetery operator for burial merchandise or burial services covered by sections 214.270 to 214.410 which is entered into before the death of the individual for whom the burial merchandise or burial services are intended;

&#; (8)  "Cemetery service" or "burial service", those services performed by a cemetery owner or operator licensed as an endowed care or nonendowed cemetery including setting a monument or marker, setting a tent, excavating a grave, interment, entombment, inurnment, setting a vault, or other related services within the cemetery;

&#; (9)  "Columbarium", a building or structure for the inurnment of cremated human remains;

&#; (10)  "Community mausoleum", a mausoleum containing a substantial area of enclosed space and having either a heating, ventilating or air conditioning system;

&#; (11)  "Department", department of commerce and insurance;

&#; (12)  "Developed acreage", the area which has been platted into grave spaces and has been developed with roads, paths, features, or ornamentations and in which burials can be made;

&#; (13)  "Director", director of the division of professional registration;

&#; (14)  "Division", division of professional registration;

&#; (15)  "Endowed care", the maintenance, repair and care of all burial space subject to the endowment within a cemetery, including any improvements made for the benefit of such burial space.  Endowed care shall include the general overhead expenses needed to accomplish such maintenance, repair, care and improvements.  Endowed care shall include the terms perpetual care, permanent care, continual care, eternal care, care of duration, or any like term;

&#; (16)  "Endowed care cemetery", a cemetery, or a section of a cemetery, which represents itself as offering endowed care and which complies with the provisions of sections 214.270 to 214.410;

&#; (17)  "Endowed care fund", "endowed care trust", or "trust", any cash or cash equivalent, to include any income therefrom, impressed with a trust by the terms of any gift, grant, contribution, payment, devise or bequest to an endowed care cemetery, or its endowed care trust, or funds to be delivered to an endowed care cemetery's trust received pursuant to a contract and accepted by any endowed care cemetery operator or his agent.  This definition includes the terms endowed care funds, maintenance funds, memorial care funds, perpetual care funds, or any like term;

&#; (18)  "Escrow account", an account established in lieu of an endowed care fund as provided under section 214.330 or an account used to hold deposits under section 214.387;

&#; (19)  "Escrow agent", an attorney, title company, certified public accountant or other person authorized by the division to exercise escrow powers under the laws of this state;

&#; (20)  "Escrow agreement", an agreement subject to approval by the office between an escrow agent and a cemetery operator or its agent or related party with common ownership, to receive and administer payments under cemetery prearranged contracts sold by the cemetery operator;

&#; (21)  "Family burial ground", a cemetery in which no burial space is sold to the public and in which interments are restricted to persons related by blood or marriage;

&#; (22)  "Fraternal cemetery", a cemetery owned, operated, controlled or managed by any fraternal organization or auxiliary organizations thereof, in which the sale of burial space is restricted solely to its members and their immediate families;

&#; (23)  "Garden mausoleum", a mausoleum without a substantial area of enclosed space and having its crypt and niche fronts open to the atmosphere.  Ventilation of the crypts by forced air or otherwise does not constitute a garden mausoleum as a community mausoleum;

&#; (24)  "Government cemetery", or "municipal cemetery", a cemetery owned, operated, controlled or managed by the federal government, the state or a political subdivision of the state, including a county or municipality or instrumentality thereof;

&#; (25)  "Grave" or "plot", a place of ground in a cemetery, used or intended to be used for burial of human remains;

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&#; (26)  "Human remains", the body of a deceased person in any state of decomposition, as well as cremated remains;

&#; (27)  "Inurnment", placing an urn containing cremated remains in a burial space;

&#; (28)  "Lawn crypt", a burial vault or other permanent container for a casket which is permanently installed below ground prior to the time of the actual interment.  A lawn crypt may permit single or multiple interments in a grave space;

&#; (29)  "Mausoleum", a structure or building for the entombment of human remains in crypts;

&#; (30)  "Niche", a space in a columbarium used or intended to be used for inurnment of cremated remains;

&#; (31)  "Nonendowed care cemetery", or "nonendowed cemetery", a cemetery or a section of a cemetery for which no endowed care trust fund has been established in accordance with sections 214.270 to 214.410;

&#; (32)  "Office", the office of endowed care cemeteries within the division of professional registration;

&#; (33)  "Owner of burial space", a person to whom the cemetery operator or his authorized agent has transferred the right of use of burial space;

&#; (34)  "Person", an individual, corporation, partnership, joint venture, association, trust or any other legal entity;

&#; (35)  "Registry", the list of cemeteries maintained in the division office for public review.  The division may charge a fee for copies of the registry;

&#; (36)  "Religious cemetery", a cemetery owned, operated, controlled or managed by any church, convention of churches, religious order or affiliated auxiliary thereof in which the sale of burial space is restricted solely to its members and their immediate families;

&#; (37)  "Surface lawn crypt", a sealed burial chamber whose lid protrudes above the land surface;

&#; (38)  "Total acreage", the entire tract which is dedicated to or reserved for cemetery purposes;

&#; (39)  "Trustee of an endowed care fund", the separate legal entity qualified under section 214.330 appointed as trustee of an endowed care fund.

When someone dies there are many things to be done, one being to arrange the funeral. But knowing the details of where to bury the deceased can be a challenge, especially if it&#;s unclear as to who owns the burial plot, if indeed a burial plot has been secured prior to the deceased&#;s passing.

Perhaps first we should explain what the difference is between a burial plot and a grave. A burial plot is an area of land in a cemetery where the grave of a person who has died is located. Burial plots can be for individuals, couples, or even multiple people, and a burial plot is generally leased for a specific period of time, normally for up to 100 years, but this period can be extended if needed.

When you purchase a burial plot, a Deed of Grant is issued giving you the Exclusive Right of Burial in that particular plot but not ownership of the land itself. 

Can I Buy a Burial Plot?

It is possible to buy a burial plot prior to a person&#;s death. If an individual purchases a plot they will be issued with a Deed of Grant which means they will have a right of burial in that plot. The Deed of Grant not only allows the owner to be buried in the designated plot, but they can authorise other burials in the grave plot also.

Do I Need a Permit to Install a Headstone on a Grave? 

When you purchase a burial plot you will be issued with a Deed of Grant. This allows the burial plot owner to apply for a permit to place an inscribed memorial on the grave.

Can I Transfer Ownership of a Burial Plot?

A burial plot owner can transfer ownership to another person whilst they are still alive, but in order to do this, the current owner will need to sign a Deed of Assignment with the Local Authority that will allow the right of ownership to the burial plot to be transferred to the new owner.

What Happens to the Ownership of the Burial Plot After the Owner Dies?

Without a living burial plot owner, Local Authorities are unable to allow any further burials in the plot or make any changes to the memorial. Depending on the specific circumstances, the route for a transfer of the burial plot ownership following the owners death will differ;

• If the now deceased plot owner made a valid Will and the Estate requires a Grant of Probate, then it will be possible for the ownership of the burial plot to be transferred to the Executor(s) named in the Will. They can then decide who else should be buried in the plot, and authorise for any memorial to be erected or any further inscription on an existing headstone.

• If the now deceased plot owner made a valid Will but no Grant of Probate is required due to the low value of the Estate, ownership can be transferred to the Executor(s) named in the Will, normally after the signing of a Statutory Declaration to allow them to make the relevant decisions about who is buried in the plot.

• If the now deceased left no valid Will, ownership of the plot can be transferred to the deceased&#;s Administrator(s) under the Intestacy Rules, pursuant to the Grant of Letters of Administration. It will then ultimately be their decision as to who should be buried in the plot. 

• If the deceased however did not leave a valid Will and, due to the low value of the Estate, Letters of Administration are not required, then it may be possible to transfer ownership of the plot to the deceased&#;s next of kin in line with the Intestacy Rules ranking for, whoever would have been the Administrator, normally after the signing of a Statutory Declaration to allow them to make the relevant decisions about who is buried in the plot.

Do People Argue Over Burial Plots?

Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for family members to end up in dispute about who owns a burial plot. This usually arises when a plot was not purchased prior to the deceased death. It can also be when a plot is dug for more than one person and someone is already buried there. It could also be because someone other than the Executor(s)/Administrator(s) organised the funeral and signed the paperwork, so they now own the plot instead of the Executor(s)/Administrator(s). This is why, if the deceased left a Will, then it should be the Executor(s) who organise the funeral and be named as the burial plot owner(s), or if the deceased did not leave a Will, their Administrators should organise the funeral and be named as the burial plot owners. 

Conflict however often arises when funeral undertakers take instructions from family members who are non-Executors or Administrators and they are then named as the plot owner instead of the Executors or Administrators.  This can lead to a dispute between the Executors /Administrators and family members as the plot owner will decide (if the burial plot is for more than one person) who else can be buried in the plot in the future; and if they die first, the decision then passes to their Executors/Administrators.   

We have dealt with a variety of such disputes here at Thornton Jones, both in relation to ashes, and burial plot ownership, so if you have a query about anything within this blog, please do get in touch.

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The content of this blog post is for information only and does not constitute formal legal advice and should not be relied upon as advice. Thornton Jones Solicitors Limited accepts no liability for any such reliance upon this content. Where the post includes links to external websites, Thornton Jones Solicitors Limited accepts no responsibility for the content of such sites. Any link to a third-party website should not be construed as endorsement by Thornton Jones Solicitors Limited of any content, products or services which are outside our direct control.

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