Cemetery lots; disposition

17-1302. Cemetery lots; disposition. Such corporations shall have power to convey, by deed or otherwise, any lot or lots of the cemetery for purposes of sepulture. When such lots shall have been surveyed and platted, the survey and plat shall be recorded in the office of the register of deeds of the county wherein the same are situated. No lots shall be sold or disposed of until such plat shall have been recorded. Every lot sold and conveyed in such cemetery shall be held by the proprietor, for the purpose of sepulture only, and shall not be subject to attachment or execution: Provided, That where such corporation has agreed to convey a certain lot or lots to a purchaser, and such purchaser has failed for a period of one year following the date of such agreement to pay the purchase price therefor, such agreement, at the option and election of the cemetery corporation, shall be and remain canceled, void, and of no effect: Provided further, That if within the said period of one year the purchaser shall cause any dead person to be buried upon said lot, or lots, so agreed to be sold, that portion of said lot or lots actually occupied by the said grave of such dead person so buried shall not be sold by such cemetery corporation to any other person, or persons; but, if the purchaser shall voluntarily remove or cause to be removed the dead person so buried in such grave, such corporation may convey, sell and dispose of such grave described to any other person or persons. History: G.S. 1868, ch. 23, § 125; L. 1913, ch. 143, § 1; R.S. 1923, 17-1302; L. 1970, ch. 84, § 1; July 1. Source or Prior Law: L. 1861, ch. 3, § 5; L. 1866, ch. 57, § 45. Cross References to Related Sections: Tax exemption, see 79-201c. Funeral homes and mortuaries prohibited in certain cemeteries, see 79-207. Law Review and Bar Journal References: "The Effect of Bankruptcy on Divorce Planning." Brenda J. Bell, Sharon Wright Kellstrom and Anne Burke Miller, 70 J.K.B.A. No. 3, 30 (2001). Attorney General's Opinions: Finance and taxation; uniform and equal rate of assessment and taxation. 79-31. Eminent domain; procedure act; compensation. 88-73. CASE ANNOTATIONS 1. Owner of lot is member of corporation; entitled to vote. Davis v. Coventry, 65 Kan. 557, 561, 70 P. 583. 2. Lots purchased for cemetery can only be used for burial purposes. Earhart v. Holbert, 116 Kan. 487, 227 P. 351. 3. Cemetery corporation liable for special assessment for paving street; section discussed and construed. Mount Hope Cemetery Co. v. City of Topeka, 190 Kan. 702, 704, 706, 707, 709, 378 P.2d 30. 4. Applied in holding subsection 2 of K.S.A. 79-201 (1969) unconstitutional. Topeka Cemetery Ass'n v. Schnellbacher, 218 Kan. 39, 44, 542 P.2d 278. 5. Building mortuary on real estate dedicated for purposes of sepulture not authorized; injunction granted. Connolly v. Frobenius, 2 Kan. App. 2d 18, 32, 574 P.2d 971. 6. K.S.A. 17-1366 through 17-1368 relative to abandoned cemeteries and dissolution of cemetery corporations held permissible exercise of police power. State ex rel. Stephan v. Lane, 228 Kan. 379, 387, 614 P.2d 987. 7. Cited; power of city to zone property resulting in cemetery becoming nonconforming use examined. Johnson County Memorial Gardens, Inc., v. City of Overland Park, 239 Kan. 221, 223, 718 P.2d 1302 (1986). 8. Cemetery to be used exclusively for burial of dead; monument for unborn babies not permitted. Lower v. Board of Dir. of Haskell County Cemetery Dist., 274 Kan. 735, 56 P.3d 235 (2002). Previous | Next LEGISLATIVE COORDINATING COUNCIL General Policies 2026 Archived LCC Documents Archived LCC Meetings REVISOR OF STATUTES Archived Session Documents Archived School Finance Documents USEFUL LINKS Session Laws Kansas Administrative Regulations OTHER LEGISLATIVE SITES Kansas Legislature Administrative Services Division of Post Audit Research Department Contact Us PDF Help www.ksrevisor.gov 2026