CHAPTER 111

An Act to amend and reenact §§ 57-89.2 through 57-89.7 of the Code of
Virginia, which empower the owners of certain cemeteries to acquire

abandoned cemetery lots and prescribe the procedure therein. rH 889]

Approved February 26, 1964

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 57-89.2 through 57-39.7 of the Code of Virginia be amended
and reenacted as follows:

§ 57-39.2. The ownership of or right or interest in any unoccupied
cemetery lot in any cemetery located in any city having a population in
excess of 180,000 * or in any town in any county, which county has a
population of not less than twenty-one thousand nine hundred fifty nor
more than twenty-two thousand one hundred, which cemetery is under
the ownership and charge of such city or town, or any corporation, associa-
tion or trustees, shall, upon abandonment, revert to such city, town, cor-
poration, association or trustees having ownership and charge of the
cemetery containing any such lot. The continued failure to maintain or
care for an unoccupied cemetery lot in any cemetery for a period of at
least thirty years, whether such period shall have elapsed prior to the
effective date hereof or subsequent thereto, shall create and establish a
rebuttable presumption that the same has been abandoned.

§ 57-39.3. Any city, town, corporation, association or trustees, hav-
ing ownership and charge of a cemetery which is located in a city, or
town im a county, the population of which is set forth in the preceding
section, may file a verified bill in equity in the circuit, corporation or city
court having equity jurisdiction within whose jurisdiction the cemetery
is situated, setting forth its or their ownership of the cemetery and facts
relating to the continued failure by the owner of an unoccupied cemetery
lot in such cemetery to maintain and care for the same for at least thirty
consecutive years immediately preceding thereto, and pray for an order
adjudging any such lot to be abandoned. Upon the filing of such bill, the
court upon proper motion shall set a date for a hearing thereon.

8 57-39.4. Not less than twenty days before the date fixed for the
hearing, a notice declaring that the unoccupied cemetery lot has been
presumed to be abandoned, and setting forth the date fixed for the hearing,
shall be served personally upon the recorded owner thereof or his heirs,
if the recorded owner is known by the cemetery to be dead and upon such
heirs whose names and addresses have been filed with the cemetery, or
shall be served by mailing the notice by registered mail to the last known
address of the recorded owner thereof or his heirs, if the recorded owner
is known by the cemetery to be dead and to such heirs whose names and
addresses have been filed with the cemetery, and by publishing the notice
once each week for four consecutive weeks in a newspaper having general
circulation in the city or town in which the cemetery is located. Thereupon,
it shall be the duty of such recorded owner or his heirs, as the case may be,
to appear and make answer to the allegations of said bill and any such
appearance and answer shall rebut the presumption of abandonment.

§ 57-39.5. At the hearing authorized by the preceding section, the
proofs of the parties shall be presented and if the court shall determine
therefrom, or upon the verified bill in event of the failure of the recorded
owner or his heirs, as the case may be, to appear and answer, that the
unoccupied cemetery lot set forth in the bill has been abandoned, the court
shall enter a decree adjudging the same to be abandoned, and shall further
provide that the city, town, corporation, association or trustees having
ownership and charge of the cemetery containing any such lot shall have
the right to sell the same, conveying good title thereto, and to use the
proceeds derived therefrom in the manner and for the purposes hereinafter
provided.

§ 57-39.6. At any time after entry of the decree adjudicating any
unoccupied cemetery lot to be abandoned, the city, town, corporation, asso-
ciation or trustees having ownership and charge of the cemetery containing
any such lot may sell the same in accordance with the rules and regula-
tions of the cemetery then in force governing generally the sale of cemetery
lots. Any proceeds derived therefrom shall first be used to defray the costs
and expenses incurred in any abandonment proceedings, and the balance
thereof shall, unless otherwise directed by the court, be placed in a
special fund, known as the “Perpetual Care Fund” of the cemetery, to be
used by the cemetery solely for the future maintenance, care and upkeep
of the cemetery.

§ 57-39.7. §§ 57-39.2 through 57-39.6 shall be construed to apply to
and authorize a determination of abandonment of any unoccupied part of
a cemetery lot; provided, however, in any proceeding to determine the
abandonment of an unoccupied part of a cemetery lot, the court shall in the
exercise of its equity jurisdiction, also determine what part, if any, shall
be considered as having been abandoned ; but said sections shall not be con-
strued to apply to and authorize a determination of abandonment of the
following: (1) that part of a cemetery lot wherein there has been an inter-
ment; (2) any cemetery lot or part thereof to which unrestricted fee
simple title has been conveyed by a cemetery; or (3) any cemetery lot or
part thereof for which perpetual or annual care has been provided by con-
tract with the city, town, corporation, association or trustees having owner-
ship and charge of the cemetery containing any such lot or part thereof.