[WSBAPT] Transfer of interment rights

[Lisa Schuchman]

Hello, colleagues,

I am working on a testate estate with five cemetery lots.  They are "interment rights," not real property.  We are preparing to close the estate and asked the company about transferring, citing RCW 11.48.020.

The response: "My understanding is that cemetery right or plot does not apply to the RCW you stated below because cemetery right or plot is not considered to be real or personal property."

Here is the section they cited from the Cemetery Rules & Regulations booklet.
25. If an Owner dies without having transferred unused Interment Rights either by a specific devise in the Owner's will or by a written direction furnished to the Cemetery, any such unused Interment Rights descend to the heirs at law of the Owner in accordance with the laws of descent and distribution of the state in which the Cemetery is located, subject to the Interment Rights of the deceased and his or her surviving spouse. Where such a transfer of ownership results in multiple Owners of any Interment Rights, each co-Owner shall have the right to be interred in any interment space of the co-Owners which has not been used at the time of that co-Owner's death, and the consent of the other co-Owners shall not be required for any such interment; however, no co-Owner may convey an Interment Right, or authorize the interment of anyone other than a co-Owner, without the consent of all other co-Owners of that Interment Right.

In my case, "heirs at law" would include a couple of people no one has heard from in years.  The lots are reasonably valuable and the parents are in the next lots.

They also cited RCW 68.32.040, which seems to provide that rights pass through intestacy even if there is a will.  Does anyone have any experience or insight for me?

Lisa E. Schuchman
206-325-2801
www.lisaschuchman.com<http://www.lisaschuchman.com/>

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