Montana Code Annotated 2023

TITLE 7. LOCAL GOVERNMENT

CHAPTER 35. CEMETERY SERVICES

Part 41. Cemeteries in Municipalities

Vesting Of Title To Cemetery Grounds -- Restrictions On Use

7-35-4102. Vesting of title to cemetery grounds -- restrictions on use. The title to lands used as a public cemetery or graveyard, situated in or near any city or town and used by the inhabitants of the city or town as a burial ground without interruption for 5 years, is vested in the inhabitants of the city or town. The lands must be used as a public cemetery, except:

(1) the bodies interred in the cemetery grounds may be removed and no additional bodies may be interred in the cemetery grounds upon the order of the board of county commissioners, city council, or other body having authority when it appears that the public health is endangered or for any other good cause. A new cemetery must be purchased and laid out by proper authority and the bodies removed from the old cemetery must be interred in the new cemetery. The old cemetery may be sold and the proceeds applied to the purchase of the new cemetery.

(2) when a portion of the cemetery grounds are determined to be unsuitable for the interment of bodies, the unsuitable grounds may be used for another public purpose upon the order of the board of county commissioners, city council, or other body having authority.

History: En. Sec. 2880, Pol. C. 1895; re-en. Sec. 1988, Rev. C. 1907; re-en. Sec. 5168, R.C.M. 1921; Cal. Pol. C. Sec. 3105; re-en. Sec. 5168, R.C.M. 1935; R.C.M. 1947, 9-301; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 198, L. 2011.