By Hunter H.B. No. 3694
76R9286 MCK-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to abandoned burial plots.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. The heading to Section 714.003, Health and Safety
1-5 Code, is amended to read as follows:
1-6 Sec. 714.003. ABANDONED PLOTS [LOTS] IN PRIVATE CEMETERIES
1-7 SECTION 2. Sections 714.003(a), (b), (c), (e), (g), and (i),
1-8 Health and Safety Code, are amended to read as follows:
1-9 (a) The ownership or right of sepulture in an unoccupied
1-10 plot [lot or a part of a lot] for which adequate perpetual care has
1-11 not been provided in a private cemetery operated by a nonprofit
1-12 organization reverts to the cemetery on a finding by a court that
1-13 the plot [lot or part of the lot] is abandoned. A cemetery may
1-14 convey title to any plot [a lot or part of a lot] that has reverted
1-15 to the cemetery.
1-16 (b) A plot [lot] is presumed to be abandoned if for 10
1-17 consecutive years an owner or an owner's successor in interest does
1-18 not:
1-19 (1) maintain the plot [lot] in a condition consistent
1-20 with other plots [lots] in the cemetery; or
1-21 (2) pay any assessments for maintenance charged by the
1-22 cemetery.
1-23 (c) An owner or an owner's successors in interest may rebut
1-24 the presumption of abandonment by:
2-1 (1) delivering to the governing body or by filing with
2-2 the court written notice claiming ownership of or right of
2-3 sepulture in the plot [lot]; and
2-4 (2) paying the cemetery for any past due maintenance
2-5 charges on the plot [lot] plus interest at the maximum legal rate.
2-6 (e) The governing body may petition a court of competent
2-7 jurisdiction for an order declaring that a plot [lot or a part of a
2-8 lot] is abandoned if, not later than the 91st day and not earlier
2-9 than the 120th day before the date the petition is filed, the
2-10 governing body gives written notice of its claim of the plot to the
2-11 [lot] owner or, if the owner is deceased or his address is unknown,
2-12 to the owner's known successors in interest. The notice must be
2-13 delivered in person or by prepaid United States mail, sent to the
2-14 last known address of the owner or the owner's successors in
2-15 interest.
2-16 (g) After deducting reasonable expenses related to the
2-17 reacquisition and sale of an abandoned plot [cemetery lot],
2-18 including restoration, expenses of the sale, court costs and legal
2-19 fees, a cemetery shall deposit the balance of the funds from the
2-20 sale of the plot [lot] into an account to be used [solely] for the
2-21 [perpetual] care of the cemetery.
2-22 (i) In this section:
2-23 (1) "Governing body" means the person in a nonprofit
2-24 organization responsible for conducting a cemetery business.
2-25 (2) "Nonprofit organization" means an organization
2-26 described by Section 501(c)(13) [501(c)(3)], Internal Revenue Code
2-27 of 1986 (26 U.S.C. Section 501(c)(13) [501(c)(3)]).
3-1 (3) "Plot" means a grave space in a cemetery that has
3-2 not been used to inter human remains.
3-3 (4) "Private cemetery" means a cemetery that is not
3-4 owned or operated by the United States, this state, or a political
3-5 subdivision of this state, but is owned and operated by a nonprofit
3-6 organization.
3-7 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
3-8 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-9 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-10 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-11 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-12 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-13 passage, and it is so enacted.