Liability for Funeral Expenses
Sources for Payment
Liability of the Estate:
Primary Obligor
Reasonableness of the Funeral Bill
Collection Against the Estate
Liability for Funeral Expenses
(cont’d)
Dependent
Contractual Liability
Liability of Executor/Administrator
Liability of the State
(NJSA 40A-49.1)
Cemeteries
Purpose
Cemetery
Not a “nuisance per se”.
Grave vs. Plot/Lot
30 – 40 square feet
multiple depth
Depth requirements in NJ:
26:6.36
Does not apply to “properly”
constructed private vaults.
Establishment of Cemeteries
Public: “power of eminent domain”
Private: religious orders
family plots
Regulation of Cemeteries
“police power”
Interest of public welfare is
paramount.
Right to Bury
Not real estate.
Subject to cemetery rules and
regulations and statutes.
Religious societies may impose
special restrictions.
Racial discrimination is not
permitted. (Civil Rights Act)
Sale and Encumbrance
Lot is inalienable.
Subject to the cemetery’s rules and
regulations.
Death of owner results in transfer of
title to heirs.
May devise a cemetery lot by Will
and Testament, if no burials.
Markers, Monuments and Vaults
Personal property.
Owners are entitled to protection
from desecration.
Regulated by the cemetery.
Visitation in Cemeteries
Owner has a right to visit.
Family/friends have free access.
Cemetery must maintain ingress
and egress.
FD has a right due to contractual
obligation to the family.
Criminal Offenses
Most states make it a crime to
desecrate a grave.
NJ Cemetery Law
Title 8A
Can be owned/operated by:
VA
Government
Religious Organizations
Cemetery Corporations
Cemeteries are tax-exempt.
Cemetery Board is part of the
Division of Consumer Affairs
Exclusive Rights
Open and fill graves.
Furnish equip. necessary for
interment.
Install flush memorials.
Install foundations for markers.
Set/seal vaults, crypts and niches.
Prevent unauthorized interment.
Regulate conduct of visitors.
Cemeteries cannot:
Manufacture and sell monuments.
Manufacture and sell burial vaults.
Practice mortuary science.
Cemeteries must have a
maintenance and preservation fund
of $50,000.
Disinterment (Exhumation)
“the removal of a human corpse
previously buried in the earth.”
May be authorized for 2 reasons:
Public Interest
Private Interest
Factors used by court to determine
reasonable cause:
NJ Law for Disinterment
7 signatures required:
Applicant
Surviving spouse and children.
Owner of interment space.
Cemetery representative.
Funeral director.
Registrar/health official issuing permit.
Cemetery/crematory representative
where body is being reinterred.
Distribution of Permit
4 copies:
1)
2)
3)
4)
white
canary (yellow)
pink
goldenrod (gold)
NJ Statutes
26:6-37
26:6-38
NJ Administrative Code:
13:44J-8.1 (multiple-depth grave)
13:44J-8.2 (additional interment)
13:44J-8.3 (photo. a disinterment)
13:44J-8.4 (temp. storage)
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