Section: 2 Ownership and Transfer of Lots
2.01 Lots or gravesites in Oak Hill Cemetery are transferred by special deed for the purpose of burial only. Ownership is subject to the Statutes of the State of Illinois, the Ordinances and Resolutions of the City of Taylorville, Illinois, and the Rules and Regulations of the Board of Managers of Oak Hill Cemetery.
2.02 Management will assume that owners acquire lots for interment of owners and family members unless otherwise stipulated by Will, by Affidavit, or by indicating exceptions in the Deed.
2.03 All lots conveyed are the sole and separate property of the owners named in the instrument of conveyance and the owners shall have the first right of interment, the right of direction for relatives or friends, and the right of sale or transfer, subject to the first right of the cemetery to repurchase or to approve a transfer.
2.04 Spouses of owners have a vested right of interment if more than one interment space is unoccupied or undesignated at the time the person becomes the spouse of the owner, and no conveyance or other action of the owner without the written consent of the spouse shall divest the spouse of a vested right of interment. Management, however, is only obligated to reserve space for spouses with vested rights of interment when notified by Affidavit. A final decree of divorce between owner and spouse terminates the vested right of interment of spouse unless otherwise provided in the decree.
2.05 Upon the death of an owner, all right of interment, direction, sale or transfer, subject to the first right of the cemetery to repurchase or to approve a transfer, and subject to any existing and vested right of interment of owner’s spouse, shall vest as follows: (1) In any surviving joint tenant; (2) As the owner shall direct by Will; (3) In accordance with the laws of descent of the State of Illinois.
2.06 When more than one of succeeding owners (of equal kinship) make request for the reservation of the same grave space or spaces, the order of need (or death) shall establish which party or parties will use the remaining grave space or spaces, subject to the rights of spouses with vested rights of interment.
2.07 In conveyance to two or more persons as joint tenants, the owners may individually direct burials for relatives or friends. If spaces are available in excess of the number needed to accommodate all owners and spouses with vested rights of interment.
2.08 An affidavit by a person having knowledge of the facts setting forth the death of an owner and the succession of ownership in accordance with these rules and regulations is complete authorization for the cemetery to permit the use of the unoccupied lot or lots by the succeeding owners.
2.09 A vested right or first right of interment may be waived by written notice to the cemetery by the person in whom the right is vested. A vested right or first right of interment is terminated upon the interment elsewhere of the remains of the person in whom the right is vested.
2.10 The transfer of a gravesite or a lot is a privilege which may be extended in special cases, but no owner has the unrestricted right to transfer a gravesite or lot. No transfer shall be valid unless prior consent and approval of Management is obtained. All transfers must be completed on approved forms and recorded in the cemetery records.
2.11 A lot or a gravesite must be paid for in full before interment or before any monument work is placed thereon.
2.12 All work ordered on a grave site must be authorized by the owner and evidence of ownership must accompany the work order.
2.13 Management reserves the right to grant perpetual right of ingress and egress over all lots for the purpose of passing to and from other lots.