35-21-827. Property interests in plot -- estate tax. (1) All plots conveyed to individuals are presumed to be the sole and separate property of the owner named in the instrument of conveyance.

(2) The spouse of an owner of a plot containing more than one interment space has a vested right to be interred in the plot, and a person becoming the spouse of the plot owner has a vested right to be interred in the plot if an interment space not subject to the vested right of interment for previous spouses is unoccupied at the time that the person becomes the spouse of the owner.

(3) A conveyance or other action of the owner without the written consent or joinder of the spouse of the owner may not divest the spouse of a vested right of interment, except that a final decree of dissolution of marriage between the owner and the spouse terminates the vested right of interment unless otherwise provided in the decree.

(4) If an interment is not made in a plot that has been transferred by deed or certificate of ownership to an individual owner or if all remains previously interred in the plot are lawfully removed, the plot descends upon the death of the owner to the owner's heirs-at-law, subject to the rights of interment of the decedent and the owner's surviving spouse unless the owner has disposed of the plot either in a will by a specific devise or by a written declaration filed and recorded in the office of the mausoleum-columbarium authority.

(5) Mausoleum or columbarium property passing to an individual by reason of the death of the owner is exempt from all estate taxes.

History: En. Sec. 14, Ch. 283, L. 1999; amd. Sec. 13, Ch. 9, Sp. L. May 2000.