RCW 68.24.010
Right to acquire property.
Cemetery authorities may take by purchase, donation or devise, property
consisting of lands, mausoleums, crematories, and columbariums, or other
property within which the interment of the dead may be authorized by law.
[1943 c 247 § 61; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-61.]
RCW 68.24.020
Surveys and maps.
Every cemetery authority, from time to time as its property may be required
for cemetery purposes, shall:
(1) In case of land, survey and subdivide it into
sections, blocks, plots, avenues, walks, or other subdivisions; make a good and
substantial map or plat showing the sections, plots, avenues, walks or other
subdivisions, with descriptive names or numbers.
(2) In case of a mausoleum, or columbarium, it shall
make a good and substantial map or plat on which shall be delineated the
sections, halls, rooms, corridors, elevation, and other divisions, with
descriptive names or numbers.
[1943 c 247 § 62; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-62.]
RCW 68.24.030
Declaration of dedication and maps -- Filing.
The cemetery authority shall file the map or plat in the office of the
recorder of the county in which all or a portion of the property is situated.
The cemetery authority shall also file for record in the county recorder's
office a written declaration of dedication of the property delineated on the
plat or map, dedicating the property exclusively to cemetery purposes.
[1943 c 247 § 63; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-63.]
NOTES:
County auditor: Chapter 36.22 RCW.
County auditor fees, generally: RCW 36.18.010.
RCW 68.24.040
Dedication, when complete.
Upon the filing of the map or plat and the filing of the declaration for
record, the dedication is complete for all purposes and thereafter the property
shall be held, occupied, and used exclusively for a cemetery and for cemetery
purposes.
[1943 c 247 § 64; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-64.]
RCW 68.24.050
Constructive notice.
The filed map or plat and the recorded declaration are constructive notice
to all persons of the dedication of the property to cemetery purposes.
[1943 c 247 § 66; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-66.]
RCW 68.24.060
Maps and plats -- Amendment.
Any part or subdivision of the property so mapped and plotted may, by order
of the directors, be resurveyed and altered in shape and size and an amended map
or plat filed, so long as such change does not disturb the interred remains of
any deceased person.
[1943 c 247 § 65; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-65.]
RCW 68.24.070
Permanency of dedication.
After property is dedicated to cemetery purposes pursuant to RCW 68.24.010
through 68.24.060, neither the dedication, nor the
title of a plot owner, shall be affected by the dissolution of the cemetery
authority, by nonuser on its part, by alienation of the property, by any
incumbrances, by sale under execution, or otherwise except as provided in *this
act.
[1943 c 247 § 67; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-67.]
NOTES:
*Reviser's note: For "this
act," see note following RCW 68.04.020.
RCW 68.24.080
Rule against perpetuities, etc., inapplicable.
Dedication to cemetery purposes pursuant to *this act is not invalid as
violating any laws against perpetuities or the suspension of the power of
alienation of title to or use of property, but is expressly permitted and shall
be deemed to be in respect for the dead, a provision for the interment of human
remains, and a duty to, and for the benefit of, the general public.
[1943 c 247 § 68; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-68.]
NOTES:
*Reviser's note: For "this
act," see note following RCW 68.04.020.
RCW 68.24.090
Removal of dedication -- Procedure.
Property dedicated to cemetery purposes shall be held and used exclusively
for cemetery purposes, unless and until the dedication is removed from all or
any part of it by an order and decree of the superior court of the county in
which the property is situated, in a proceeding brought by the cemetery
authority for that purpose and upon notice of hearing and proof satisfactory to
the court:
(1) That no interments were made in or that all
interments have been removed from that portion of the property from which
dedication is sought to be removed.
(2) That the portion of the property from which
dedication is sought to be removed is not being used for interment of human
remains.
(3) That notice of the proposed removal of
dedication has been given in writing to both the cemetery board and the office
of archaeology and historic preservation. This notice must be given at least
sixty days before filing the proceedings in superior court. The notice of the
proposed removal of dedication shall be recorded with the auditor or recording
officer of the county where the cemetery is located at least sixty days before
filing the proceedings in superior court.
[1999 c 367 § 2; 1987 c 331 § 34; 1943 c 247 § 76; Rem. Supp. 1943 §
3778-76.]
NOTES:
Effective date -- 1987 c 331: See RCW
68.05.900.
RCW 68.24.100
Notice of hearing.
The notice of hearing provided in RCW 68.24.090
shall be given by publication once a week for at least three consecutive weeks
in a newspaper of general circulation in the county where said cemetery is
located, and the posting of copies of the notice in three conspicuous places on
that portion of the property from which the dedication is to be removed. Said
notice shall:
(1) Describe the portion of the cemetery property
sought to be removed from dedication.
(2) State that all remains have been removed or that
no interments have been made in the portion of the cemetery property sought to
be removed from dedication.
(3) Specify the time and place of the hearing.
[1943 c 247 § 77; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-77.]
RCW 68.24.110
Sale of plots.
After filing the map or plat and recording the declaration of dedication, a
cemetery authority may sell and convey plots subject to such rules and
regulations as may be then in effect or thereafter adopted by the cemetery
authority, and subject to such other and further limitations, conditions and
restrictions as may be inserted in or made a part of the declaration of
dedication by reference, or included in the instrument of conveyance of such
plot.
[1943 c 247 § 70; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-70. FORMER PART OF SECTION: 1943 c
247 § 72 now codified as RCW 68.24.115.]
RCW 68.24.115
Execution of conveyances.
All conveyances made by a cemetery authority shall be signed by such officer
or officers as are authorized by the cemetery authority.
[1943 c 247 § 72; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-72. Formerly RCW 68.24.110,
part.]
RCW 68.24.120
Plots indivisible.
All plots, the use of which has been conveyed by deed or certificate of
ownership as a separate plot, are indivisible except with the consent of the
cemetery authority, or as provided by law.
[1943 c 247 § 71; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-71.]
RCW 68.24.130
Sale for resale prohibited -- Penalty.
It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to sell or offer to
sell a cemetery plot upon the promise, representation or inducement of resale at
a financial profit. Each person violating this section shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor and each violation shall constitute a separate offense.
[1943 c 247 § 73; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-73.]
RCW 68.24.140
Commission on sales prohibited -- Penalty.
It shall be unlawful for a cemetery authority to pay or offer to pay to any
person, firm or corporation, directly or indirectly, a commission or bonus or
rebate or other thing of value for the sale of a plot or services. This shall
not apply to a person regularly employed by the cemetery authority for such
purpose. Each person violating this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and
each violation shall constitute a separate offense.
[1943 c 247 § 74; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-74.]
RCW 68.24.150
Employment of "runners" prohibited -- Penalty.
Every person who pays or causes to be paid or offers to pay to any other
person, firm, or corporation, directly or indirectly, except as provided in RCW 68.24.140,
any commission or bonus or rebate, or other thing of value in consideration of
recommending or causing a dead human body to be disposed of in any crematory or
cemetery, is guilty of a misdemeanor and each violation shall constitute a
separate offense.
[1943 c 247 § 75; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-75.]
RCW 68.24.160
Liens subordinate to dedication.
All mortgages, deeds of trust and other liens of any nature, hereafter
contracted, placed or incurred upon property which has been and was at the time
of the creation or placing of the lien, dedicated as a cemetery pursuant to this
part, or upon property which is afterwards, with the consent of the owner of any
mortgage, trust deed or lien, dedicated to cemetery purposes pursuant to this
part, shall not affect or defeat the dedication, but the mortgage, deed of
trust, or other lien is subject and subordinate to such dedication and any and
all sales made upon foreclosure are subject and subordinate to the dedication
for cemetery purposes.
[1943 c 247 § 60; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-60.]
NOTES:
Effective date -- 1943 c 247: See note
following RCW 68.20.040.
RCW 68.24.170
Record of ownership and transfers.
A record shall be kept of the ownership of all plots in the cemetery which
have been conveyed by the cemetery authority and of all transfers of plots in
the cemetery. No transfer of any plot, heretofore or hereafter made, or any
right of interment, shall be complete or effective until recorded on the books
of the cemetery authority.
[1943 c 247 § 40; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-40. FORMER PART OF SECTION: 1943 c
247 § 41 now codified as RCW 68.24.175.]
RCW 68.24.175
Inspection of records.
The records shall be open to inspection during the customary office hours of
the cemetery.
[1943 c 247 § 41; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-41. Formerly RCW 68.24.170,
part.]
RCW 68.24.180
Opening of roads, railroads through cemetery -- Consent required -- Exception.
After dedication under this title, and as long as the property remains
dedicated to cemetery purposes, a railroad, street, road, alley, pipe line, pole
line, or other public thoroughfare or utility shall not be laid out, through,
over, or across any part of it without the consent of the cemetery authority
owning and operating it, or of not less than two-thirds of the owners of
interment plots: PROVIDED HOWEVER, That a city of under twenty thousand may
initiate, prior to January 1, 1995, an action to condemn cemetery property if
the purpose is to further improve an existing street, or other public
improvement and the proposed improvement does not interfere with existing
interment plots containing human remains.
[1994 c 273 § 20; 1984 c 7 § 369; 1959 c 217 § 1; 1947 c 69 § 1; 1943 c
247 § 69; Rem. Supp. 1947 § 3778-69.]
NOTES:
Severability -- 1984 c 7: See note
following RCW 47.01.141.
RCW 68.24.190
Opening road through cemetery -- Penalty.
Every person who shall make or open any road, or construct any railway,
turnpike, canal, or other public easement over, through, in, or upon, such part
of any inclosure as may be used for the burial of the dead, without authority of
law or the consent of the owner thereof, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
[1909 c 249 § 241; RRS § 2493.]
RCW 68.24.220
Burying place exempt from execution.
Whenever any part of *such burying ground shall have been designated and
appropriated by the proprietors thereof as the burying place of any particular
person or family, the same shall not be liable to be taken or disposed of by any
warrant or execution, for any tax or debt whatever; nor shall the same be liable
to be sold to satisfy the demands of creditors whenever the estate of such owner
shall be insolvent.
[1857 p 28 § 2; RRS § 3760.]
NOTES:
*Reviser's note: The phrase "such
burying ground" appears in 1856-57 p 28, which provided for the creation of
corporations for the purpose of establishing a burying ground or place of
sepulture.
Cemetery property exempt from taxation: RCW
84.36.020.
RCW 68.24.240
Certain cemetery lands exempt from taxes, etc. -- 1901 c 147.
Upon compliance with the requirements of *this act said lands shall forever
be exempt from taxation, judgment and other liens and executions.
[1901 c 147 § 4; RRS § 3763.]
NOTES:
*Reviser's note: "this act"
appears in 1901 c 147, the remaining sections of which were repealed by 1943 c
247 § 148. These sections read as follows:
"Section 1. Any person owning any land,
exclusive of encumbrances of any kind, situate two miles outside of the
corporate limits of any incorporated city or town, may have the same reserved
exclusively for burial and cemetery purposes by complying with the terms of this
act, provided said lands so sought to be reserved shall not exceed in area one
acre.
Sec. 2. Such person or persons shall cause such land
to be surveyed and platted.
Sec. 3. A deed of dedication of said tract for
burial and cemetery purposes with a copy of said plat shall be filed with the
county auditor of the county in which said lands are situated and the title
thereto shall be and remain in the owner, his heirs and assigns, subject to the
trust aforesaid."
Property taxes, exemptions: RCW 84.36.020.