The rights of interment as set forth in Tex. Health and Safety Code § 711.039 shall be observed. To the extent not inconsistent therewith, the rights of interment in the city cemetery shall be as follows.
(A) A gravesite in which the exclusive right of burial is conveyed is presumed to be the separate property of the person named as grantee in the certificate of ownership or other instrument of conveyance.
(B) The spouse of a person to whom the exclusive right of burial in one or more gravesites has been conveyed has a vested right of interment of the spouse's remains in an unused gravesite while the spouse is married to the gravesite owner or if the spouse is married to the gravesite owner at the time of the owner's death.
(C) An attempted conveyance or other action without the joint or written attached consent of the spouse of the gravesite owner does not divest the spouse of the vested right of interment.
(D) The vested right of interment is terminated:
(1) On the final decree of divorce between the gravesite owner and the owner's former spouse unless the decree provides otherwise; or
(2) When the remains of the person having the vested right are interred elsewhere.
(E) Unless an owner of two or more gravesites, who has the exclusive right of burial in the gravesites, has made a specific disposition of the remaining gravesites in the owner's will or by written declaration filed and recorded in the office of the City Secretary:
(1) An unused gravesite shall be reserved for the surviving spouse of the gravesite owner; and
(2) The owner's children, in order of need, may be interred in any remaining gravesites without the consent of a person claiming an interest in the gravesite.
(F) The surviving spouse or child of an interred gravesite owner may each waive his or her right of interment in additional gravesites in favor of a relative of the owner or relative of the owner's spouse. The person in whose favor the waiver is made may be interred in the gravesite.
(G) The exclusive right of burial in an unused gravesite of a group of one or more unused gravesites, in which the owner has been interred in one, may be conveyed only by:
(1) Specific disposition of the unused grave by express reference to it in a will or by a written declaration of the gravesite owner filed and recorded in the office of the City Finance Department; or
(2) The surviving spouse, if any, and the heirs-at-law of the owner.
(H) Unless a deceased gravesite owner, who has the exclusive right of burial in a gravesite and who is not interred in the gravesite, has otherwise made specific disposition of the gravesite, the exclusive right of burial in the gravesite, except for one gravesite reserved for the surviving spouse, if any, vests on the death of the owner's heirs-at-law and may be conveyed by them.
(I) Two or more owners of a gravesite may designate a person to represent them in the use of the gravesite and they may file with the city a written notice of the designation. If notice is not filed, the city may permit an interment in the gravesite at the request or discretion of either registered co-owner of the gravesite.
(J) It shall be the duty of every owner of a gravesite to keep the city informed in writing of his or her current mailing address.
(K) An owner or owners of a gravesite may not subdivide the gravesite.
(L) The city reserves to itself and lawful visitors a perpetual right of ingress and egress over gravesites for the passage to and from other gravesites.
(Ord. 662, passed 9-14-2004) Penalty, see § 93.99