§ 65-69. Minimum acreage; sale or disposition of cemetery lands. - North Carolina Statutes

§65‑69.  Minimum acreage; sale or disposition of cemetery lands.

(a)        Each licensee shallset aside a minimum of 30 acres of land for use by said licensee as a cemetery,and shall not sell, mortgage, lease or encumber the same.

(b)        The fee simpletitle, or lesser estate, in any lands owned by licensee and dedicated for useby it as a cemetery, which are contiguous, adjoining, or adjacent to theminimum of 30 acres described in subsection (a), may be sold, conveyed, ordisposed of, or any part thereof, by the licensee, for use by the new owner forother purposes than as a cemetery; provided that no bodies have been previouslyinterred therein; and provided further, that any and all titles, interests, orburial rights which may have been sold or contracted to be sold in such landswhich are the subject of such sale shall be conveyed to and revested in thelicensee prior to consummation of any such sale, conveyance or disposition.

(c)        Any licensee mayconvey and transfer to a municipality or county its real and personal propertytogether with moneys deposited with the trustee; provided said municipality orcounty will accept responsibility for maintenance thereof and prior writtenapproval of the Commission is first obtained.

(d)        The provisions ofsubsections (a) and (b) relating to a requirement for minimum acreage shall notapply to those cemeteries licensed by the Commission on or before July 1, 1967,which own or control a total of less than 30 acres of land; provided that suchcemeteries shall not dispose of any of such lands.  A nongovernment lien orother interest in land acquired in violation of this section is void. (1975,c. 768, s. 1; 1991, c. 653, s. 8.)