North Dakota Code 23-06-21.1 – Title to burial plots reverts after sixty years – Procedure – Abandonment
Any entity owning, conducting, or maintaining a cemetery or plot for the burial of dead human bodies may use the procedures in this section to reinvest itself with the title to a portion of a cemetery which was conveyed by deed to a person but which has not been used for purposes of burial for more than sixty years.
Terms Used In North Dakota Code 23-06-21.1
- Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
- Person: means an individual, organization, government, political subdivision, or government agency or instrumentality. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
1. The entity owning, conducting, or maintaining a cemetery may pass a resolution demanding that the owner of a portion of a cemetery which has been unused for more than sixty years express an interest in the cemetery plot. The entity shall personally serve a copy of its resolution on the owner in the same manner as personal service of process in a civil action. The resolution must notify the owner that the owner must, within sixty days after service of the resolution on the owner, express an interest in retaining the unused cemetery plot.
2. If the owner of the unused plot cannot personally be served with a copy of the resolution of the entity because the owner cannot be found in this state or for any other valid reason, the entity shall publish its resolution for three consecutive weeks in the official newspaper of the county where the cemetery is located and shall mail a copy of the resolution within fourteen days after the third publication to the owner’s last-known address.
3. If within sixty days after personal service or after publication of the board’s resolution is completed, the owner or person with a legal interest in the cemetery plot fails to express an interest in retaining the unused cemetery plot, the owner’s rights are terminated and title to that person’s plot reverts to the entity owning, conducting, or maintaining the cemetery.
4. It is a conclusive presumption that an owner has abandoned a cemetery plot if for a period of more than sixty years the owner has not used any portion of the lot for purposes of burial and has not made provision for care of the lot beyond that provided uniformly to all lots within the cemetery and if the owner has failed to express an interest in retaining the cemetery plot after notice provided in this section.