(a) Transfer from Deceased Owner. A lot or grave space may be transferred from a deceased owner of record by will, or under statutes of descent and distribution, to any transferee except a corporation, other than a fiduciary or the City. If the estate of a deceased owner is not administered or if such lot or space is omitted from property administered, the right to succeed to record ownership thereof may be established by sworn statement or affidavit. In such case, title to the lot or space shall be deemed to have passed under the statutes of descent and distribution of the State in effect upon the date of such statement or affidavit, without regard to the domicile of the decedent, or the date of death.
(b) Transfer from Living Owner. It is the policy of the City that cemetery lots and grave spaces shall not be purchased and resold for the purpose of deriving a profit therefrom. Accordingly, an inter vivos transfer of ownership will not be accepted at the cemetery office except to:
(1) A transferee or transferees who are related to the transferor, or are related to a deceased person who is interred in the lot, by blood, marriage or adoption as hereafter set forth; or
(2) The City of Oregon; or
(3) A trustee or guardian for the transferor or for beneficiaries who are so related to the transferor.
For the purposes of this section, a transferor is related to a transferee if the
transferee is the transferor's:
A. Spouse.
B. Lineal ancestor or lineal descent.
C. Brother, sister, uncle, aunt.
D. Lineal descent of a brother, sister, uncle, aunt.
E. Spouse of a person in categories B., C. and D. hereof.
An instrument of transfer shall be accompanied by an affidavit that the transferee or transferees satisfy the foregoing requirements as to relationship.
(c) If the record title is in a fiduciary, such fact shall be noted on the cemetery records. Title to a lot or grave space shall not be transferred by a fiduciary except to:
(1) Such fiduciary's predecessor in title; or
(2) A transferee to whom such fiduciary's predecessor in title, when living, could have transferred the same; or
(3) In accordance with the testamentary provisions of a trust instrument or will applicable to such lot or space; or
(4) To the City.
(d) A corporation, other than a fiduciary shall not become the owner of a lot or grave space. Every lot or grave space owned of record by a corporation on the effective date of these regulations, to the extent that the same is unoccupied, may be recovered by the City upon payment to such corporation of the purchase price paid therefor to the City provided that if the corporation is no longer in existence, such lot or space may be recovered without compensation. Recovery shall be effected by transferring the ownership to the City.
(e) Reference is made to Section 967.14 for provisions for recovery of unused portions of lots upon which there have been no burials for twenty-five years or more.
(f) Wherever in these regulations provision is made for the furnishing of a sworn statement or affidavit, the City and the Superintendent shall be entitled to rely thereon and neither the City nor the Superintendent shall be liable for action taken or denied in good faith in reliance upon such sworn statement or affidavit.
(g) When the owner of record of a lot or grave space is deceased, and title thereto has not been transferred to a living owner, the rights of such deceased owner shall not escheat to any state, country or governmental authority but such rights shall be exercised by the City for the care, maintenance and preservation of occupied graves or vaults to the same extent that the City shall provide general care for all occupied graves and vaults, the title to which is recorded in the name of a living person or persons.
(Ord. 16-1981. Passed 2-9-81.)
(Ord. 16-1981. Passed 2-9-81.)