Liability for Funeral Expenses
Sources for Payment
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Liability of the Estate:

Primary Obligor

Reasonableness of the Funeral Bill

Collection Against the Estate
Liability for Funeral Expenses
(cont’d)
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Dependent
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Contractual Liability
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Liability of Executor/Administrator
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Liability of the State
(NJSA 40A-49.1)
Cemeteries
Purpose
Cemetery
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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
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Public: “power of eminent domain”
Private: religious orders
family plots
Regulation of Cemeteries

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“police power”
Interest of public welfare is
paramount.
Right to Bury

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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

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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

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
Personal property.
Owners are entitled to protection
from desecration.
Regulated by the cemetery.
Visitation in Cemeteries

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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:





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VA
Government
Religious Organizations
Cemetery Corporations
Cemeteries are tax-exempt.
Cemetery Board is part of the
Division of Consumer Affairs
Exclusive Rights

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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:
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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:

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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:

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

1)
2)
3)
4)
white
canary (yellow)
pink
goldenrod (gold)
NJ Statutes
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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)