68.32 Revised Code of Washington

RCW 68.32.010
Presumption as to title.
All plots conveyed to individuals are presumed to be the sole and separate property of the owner named in the instrument of conveyance.

[1943 c 247 § 88; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-88.]

RCW 68.32.020
Vested right of spouse.
The spouse of an owner of any plot containing more than one interment space has a vested right of interment of his remains in the plot and any person thereafter becoming the spouse of the owner has a vested right of interment of his remains in the plot if more than one interment space is unoccupied at the time the person becomes the spouse of the owner.

[1943 c 247 § 89; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-89.]

RCW 68.32.030
Vested right -- Termination.
No conveyance or other action of the owner without the written consent or joinder of the spouse of the owner divests the spouse of a vested right of interment, except that a final decree of divorce between them terminates the vested right of interment unless otherwise provided in the decree.

[1943 c 247 § 90; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-90.]

RCW 68.32.040
Descent of title to plot.
If no interment is made in an interment plot which has been transferred by deed or certificate of ownership to an individual owner, or if all remains previously interred are lawfully removed, upon the death of the owner, unless the owner has disposed of the plot either by specific devise or by a written declaration filed and recorded in the office of the cemetery authority, the plot descends to the surviving spouse or, if there is no surviving spouse, to the heirs at law of the owner subject to the rights of interment of the decedent.

[1979 c 21 § 15; 1943 c 247 § 91; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-91.]

RCW 68.32.050
Affidavit as authorization.
An affidavit by a person having knowledge of the facts setting forth the fact of the death of the owner and the name of the person or persons entitled to the use of the plot pursuant to RCW 68.32.010 through 68.32.040, is complete authorization to the cemetery authority to permit the use of the unoccupied portions of the plot by the person entitled to the use of it.

[1943 c 247 § 93; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-93.]

RCW 68.32.060
Family plot -- Alienability.
Whenever an interment of the remains of a member or of a relative of a member of the family of the record owner or of the remains of the record owner is made in a plot transferred by deed or certificate of ownership to an individual owner and both the owner and the surviving spouse, if any, die with children then living without making disposition of the plot either by a specific devise, or by a written declaration filed and recorded in the office of the cemetery authority, the plot shall thereafter be held as a family plot and shall be subject to alienation only upon agreement of the children of the owner living at the time of said alienation.

[1979 c 21 § 16; 1943 c 247 § 98; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-98.]

RCW 68.32.070
Joint tenants -- Vested rights.
In a conveyance to two or more persons as joint tenants each joint tenant has a vested right of interment in the plot conveyed.

[1943 c 247 § 94; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-94.]

RCW 68.32.080
Joint tenants -- Survivorship.
Upon the death of a joint tenant, the title to the plot held in joint tenancy immediately vests in the survivors, subject to the vested right of interment of the remains of the deceased joint tenant.

[1943 c 247 § 95; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-95.]

NOTES:

Joint tenants, simultaneous death: RCW 11.05.030.

RCW 68.32.090
Joint tenants -- Identification.
An affidavit by any person having knowledge of the facts setting forth the fact of the death of one joint tenant and establishing the identity of the surviving joint tenants named in the deed to any plot, when filed with the cemetery authority operating the cemetery in which the plot is located, is complete authorization to the cemetery authority to permit the use of the unoccupied portion of the plot in accordance with the directions of the surviving joint tenants or their successors in interest.

[1943 c 247 § 96; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-96.]

RCW 68.32.100
Co-owners may designate representative.
When there are several owners of a plot, or of rights of interment in it, they may designate one or more persons to represent the plot and file written notice of designation with the cemetery authority. In the absence of such notice or of written objection to its so doing, the cemetery authority is not liable to any owner for interring or permitting an interment in the plot upon the request or direction of any co-owner of the plot.

[1943 c 247 § 97; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-97.]

RCW 68.32.110
Order of interment -- General.
In a family plot one grave, niche or crypt may be used for the owner's interment; one for the owner's surviving spouse, if any, who by law has a vested right of interment in it; and in those remaining, if any, the parents and children of the deceased owner in order of death may be interred without the consent of any person claiming any interest in the plot.

[1943 c 247 § 99; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-99.]

RCW 68.32.120
Order of interment, when no parent or child survives.
If no parents or child survives, the right of interment goes in the order of death first, to the spouse of any child of the record owner, and second, in the order of death to the next heirs at law of the owner or the spouse of any heir at law.

[1943 c 247 § 100; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-100.]

RCW 68.32.130
Waiver of right of interment.
Any surviving spouse, parent, child, or heir having a right of interment in a family plot may waive such right in favor of any other relative or spouse of a relative of the deceased owner; and upon such waiver the remains of the person in whose favor the waiver is made may be interred in the plot.

[1943 c 247 § 101; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-101.]

RCW 68.32.140
Termination of vested right by waiver.
A vested right of interment may be waived and is terminated upon the interment elsewhere of the remains of the person in whom vested.

[1943 c 247 § 102; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-102.]

RCW 68.32.150
Limitations on vested rights.
No vested right of interment gives to any person the right to have his remains interred in any interment space in which the remains of any deceased person having a prior vested right of interment have been interred, nor does it give any person the right to have the remains of more than one deceased person interred in a single interment space in violation of the rules and regulations of the cemetery in which the interment space is located.

[1943 c 247 § 103; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-103.]

RCW 68.32.160
Conveyance of plot to cemetery authority, effect.
A cemetery authority may take and hold any plot conveyed or devised to it by the plot owner so that it will be inalienable, and interments shall be restricted to the persons designated in the conveyance or devise.

[1943 c 247 § 104; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-104.]

RCW 68.32.170
Exemption from inheritance tax.
Cemetery property passing to an individual by reason of the death of the owner is exempt from all inheritance taxes.

[1943 c 247 § 92; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-92.]

NOTES:

Reviser's note: The inheritance tax was repealed by 1981 2nd ex.s. c 7 § 83.100.160 (Initiative Measure No. 402). See RCW 83.100.900. For later enactment, see chapter 83.100 RCW.