An owner or claimant may appear and answer the allegations of the petition. If an owner fails to do so prior to the day fixed for hearing, a default shall be entered and it shall then be the duty of the superior court to immediately enter an order adjudging the unoccupied space to have been abandoned and subject to sale. In the event the owner or claimant shall appear and file his or her answer prior to the day fixed for the hearing, the presumption of abandonment shall no longer exist, and on the day fixed for the hearing of the petition or on any subsequent day to which the hearing of the cause is adjourned, the allegations and proof of the parties shall be presented to the court and if the court shall determine that there has been a continued failure to maintain or care for the unoccupied space for a period of three consecutive years preceding the filing of the petition, an order shall be entered accordingly adjudging the unoccupied space to have been abandoned and subject to sale at the expiration of one year by the person, association, corporation, or municipality having ownership of the cemetery containing the same. Upon any adjudication of abandonment, the court shall fix such sum as it shall deem reasonable as attorneys’ fees for petitioner’s attorney for rights of interment adjudged to have been abandoned in such proceedings.