BILL NUMBER: AB 322	CHAPTERED  10/05/01

	CHAPTER  516
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  OCTOBER 5, 2001
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR  OCTOBER 4, 2001
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  SEPTEMBER 10, 2001
	PASSED THE SENATE  SEPTEMBER 4, 2001
	AMENDED IN SENATE  AUGUST 28, 2001
	AMENDED IN SENATE  AUGUST 20, 2001
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JULY 16, 2001
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 25, 2001

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Bill Campbell

                        FEBRUARY 16, 2001

   An act to amend Section 8650 of, and to add Section 8650.5 to, the
Health and Safety Code, relating to family interment plots.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 322, Bill Campbell.  Cemeteries:  disposition of family plots.
   Under existing law, if the owner of a cemetery plot transferred to
the owner by deed or certificate of ownership dies without making a
disposition of the plot either in his or her will or by specific
devise or by a written declaration filed and recorded in the office
of the cemetery authority, the plot becomes inalienable upon the
person's death and becomes the family plot of the owner.
   This bill would provide that if the owner of a family plot dies
without making disposition of the plot, any unoccupied portions of
the plot would pass by the laws of intestate succession upon the
owner's death.  This bill would also provide that, on and after
January 1, 2002, any unoccupied portions of a family plot that
previously were inalienable pursuant to the above existing law
provision, would pass by the laws of intestate succession and would
become alienable.  This bill would impose specific requirements on
the seller and the cemetery authority with respect to the sale,
transfer, or donation of any unoccupied portions of a family plot.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  Section 8650 of the Health and Safety Code is amended
to read:
   8650.  (a) Whenever an interment of the remains of a member or of
a relative of a member of the family of the record owner or of the
remains of the record owner is made in a plot transferred by deed or
certificate of ownership to an individual owner, the plot shall
become the family plot of the owner.
   (b) If the owner dies without making disposition of the plot
either in his or her will by a specific devise, or by a written
declaration filed and recorded in the office of the cemetery
authority, any unoccupied portions of the plot shall pass according
to the laws of intestate succession as set forth in Sections 6400 to
6413, inclusive, of the Probate Code.
   (c) As of January 1, 2002, any unoccupied portions of a family
plot that became inalienable pursuant to this section as it read on
December 31, 2001, shall no longer be inalienable and shall pass
according to the laws of intestate succession as set forth in
Sections 6400 to 6413, inclusive, of the Probate Code.  No sale,
transfer, or donation of any unused portion of a family plot made
alienable under this subdivision shall be made unless all persons
entitled to interment in the family plot under Sections 8651 and 8652
are deceased or have expressly waived in writing the right to be
interred in the family plot.
   (d) The seller of a cemetery plot shall notify the buyer that
unused portions of a family plot may pass through intestate
succession unless written disposition is made by the buyer and may be
sold, transferred, or donated by the buyer's heirs.  The seller
shall notify the buyer of the effect of a future transfer, sale, or
donation of the unused portion of a family plot on any endowment for
care or maintenance of the plot that the buyer may purchase in
conjunction with the purchase of the cemetery plot.
  SEC. 2.  Section 8650.5 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to
read:
   8650.5.  An affidavit executed by a person who is the owner of the
plot by virtue of the laws of intestate succession or by his or her
attorney-in-fact, setting forth the fact of the death of the owner,
the absence of a disposition of the plot by the owner in his or her
will by a specific devise, the name of the person or persons who have
rights to the plot under the intestate succession laws of the state,
and the consent of that person or those persons to the sale of the
plot by the cemetery authority, shall constitute complete
authorization to the cemetery authority to permit any sale of the
unoccupied portions of the plot.