Burial Laws (ca)

[t_hoihoifua]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? California
My grandmother has been buried for almost twenty years now, and my grandfather is 98 years old and they were suppose to be buried side by side but I don't know if we bought the side plots or what because those then empty plots are now taken. So recently some family members thought my grandfather was going to pass, well more like just one uncle and his wife went down and made arrangements for him to be buried with her in the same plot, on top of her. No one would of known this until my mother the eldest of my grandmother's children went to take flowers for Christmas and low and behold she thought someone stole her mother's body. They unburied her three months ago my grandfather still isn't dead and there is only a piece of wood covering her grave. My question: Is that legal or just unethical

 

[Bigfoot]

Although you can't find your records, the owner of the cemetary should have a plot map showing which lots were available and purchased 20 years ago. The funeral home that buried your grandmother may have some papers in her file that indicate where they had info showing where she was to be buried. There may even be receipts that would show that your grandfather had also purchased a plot beside her's.

One of the smallest agencies in state governments is a burial and/or cemetary association. Perhaps they can be of help. Regardless, be sure that your grandparents had purchased two plots, and don't settle for having him buried on top of her's. It sounds like someone else may be illegally buried beside your grandmother and the seller may have either sold the plot twice or someone was negligent.

 

[t_hoihoifua]

The Plot Thickenz

Thanx for the response.......well the plot thickens! Well after going there to the cemetary myself to see the grave, I understood why my mom was so bothered. The grave was open with an empty vault awaiting my grandfather's casket to be put in. However remember he is still alive and kickin . There was only a board covering the grave. When I confronted the people there or rather the manager she said how sorry she was and said that it was her fault she didn't follow up with how my grandfather's condition was. So it was said that they would take the empty cement vault out just bury the grave back up and it was a done deal. I called a couple of times the same day to see if the job was done and I got the run around so I decided to pay them a visit before closing time. To our surprise we pull up and my grandma's vault is sitting out on the lawn . She's been buried for 27 years I made a mistake before with saying only 20. Luckily I had a camera handy and took a whole film of pictures, there was a crack in her vault and when I brought it to the manager's attention of course she said it was done probably when she was first buried. The manager also slipped and said that they had already brought her up once before to put my grandfather's vault in because the grave wasn't deep enough for the both of them . My uncle is the one who paid for the arrangements and when I said maybe he could sue the company for negligence he didn't think we had a case! Well anyways thanks for the info!

 

[You Are Guilty]

I can't follow what the heck is going on here (I thought you buried your not-dead grandpa on top of your long-dead grandma, which would be one hell of a case), but one of the relatively rare categories of cases where negligent infliction of emotional distress claims do well is in screwed up burials.

If it's really as bad as you think, it might be worth speaking to an attorney to evaluate your potential claim.

 

[t_hoihoifua]

Grandpa is still alive

My grandpa is suppose to be buried on top of my grandma when he dies. He has not passed away........, but he was real sick a few months ago and my uncle thought he was going to die and told the cemetary to be prepared because my grandpa might bite the dust soon. So us unknowing the cemetary did all the prep work with the grave put in an empty vault for my grandpa's soon to be casket and left the grave open, awaiting his funeral. Hello, there still hasn't been a funeral cause he is still alive! So that is where the complaint is. They left the grave open for months.

 

[racer72]

I say it's your uncle's fault. It only takes a couple of hours to dig a whole in a cemetary and it's not like your grandpa is going to get up and wonder off while he waiting to be interned.

 

[t_hoihoifua]

Uncle already got it!

Everyone in our family almost bit his head off! However the cemetary is more to blame, they knew my grandpa wasn't dead yet, so why dig the hole. To top it off leaving it open for months....???? That is very weird, to me at least.