Chapter 15 - § 15.3 • CEMETERY DISTRICTS

• Jurisdiction: Colorado

§ 15.3 • CEMETERY DISTRICTS

§ 15.3.1—Creation of Cemetery Districts

The board of county commissioners of a county must create cemetery districts within the county upon petition of the property owners within the districts.²⁴

§ 15.3.2—Powers of Cemetery Districts

The powers of a cemetery district include the power to acquire, hold, and convey real and personal property for cemetery purposes within the district, and to receive, acquire, and hold donations or bequests of real or personal property.²⁵

§ 15.3.3—Burial Rights

Prior to August 7, 2006, a cemetery district could sell burial plots.²⁶ On and after that date, a cemetery district may not convey title to the real property surveyed as a lot in a cemetery for use as a burial space, but may grant interment rights to a lot, grave space, niche, or crypt in a cemetery.²⁷

§ 15.3.4—Right to Reclaim Abandoned Graves

If there is a lot, grave space, niche, or crypt in a cemetery in which no remains have been interred, no burial memorial has been placed, and no other improvement has been made for a continuous period of no less than 75 years, the cemetery district may initiate the process of reclaiming title to the lot, grave space, or crypt.²⁸ If a person submits to the cemetery district a legitimate claim to a lot, grave space, niche, or crypt that the cemetery district has reclaimed, the cemetery district must transfer to the person at no charge a lot, grave space, niche, or crypt that, to the extent possible, is equivalent to the reclaimed lot, grave space, niche, or crypt.²⁹

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Notes:

^[24] C.R.S. § 30-20-801. For the manner of creating a cemetery district, see C.R.S. § 30-20-802. For the organization, procedures, and powers of cemetery districts, see C.R.S. §§ 30-20-803 to -807.

^[25] C.R.S. § 30-20-805(1). But see C.R.S. § 30-20-808(7), discussed in § 15.3.3.

^[26] See C.R.S. § 30-20-805(1)(d).

^[27] C.R.S. § 30-20-808(7).

^[28] C.R.S. § 30-20-808(1). For...