Who has burial rights in unused graves after an original owner is no longer living?
Burial rights in a Catholic Cemetery are intangible assets, not real property. It cannot be given through a will or bequest. We have a Burial Right Assignment Form for an owner to assign anyone to available burial space. [See also Question 18.] A husband and a wife exercise joint ownership. When no original purchaser is alive, burial rights descend through blood relatives, beginning with children, grandchildren and so forth. If there are no direct descendants, then rights pass to any siblings of the original purchaser(s) and their direct descendants. Contact a cemetery office for answers to specific cases. Spousal rights are also considered as well as a need caused by an unexpected death in a family.
