If this is not absurd I don't know what is.
A family must pay $1,700 to a cemetery management company or have the remains of their grandfather, grandmother and other buried relatives removed from the family plot. The law in Quebec does not allow anyone to "own" a cemetery plot.
Consequently, most Quebec burial plots are leased for 25, 50 or 99 years.
Blake said his great-grandfather purchased the plot for $10, and his family has paid maintenance fees on it that are good until 2085, so he was surprised by the demand for a lease payment.
I simply cannot comprehend the logic involved in making this law.
7 comments:
Truly absurd. What kind of stupid law is that, anyway? What, you lease the plot until all the remains are gone, and then re-lease it? Major "ewwww"
Guess I will chalk this one up to confirm my descision to be cremated. Toss the ashes into the lake as fish food. Seems fair to me....
In BC, the "lease" on a cemetary plot is for 25 non-renewable years (one complete generation), payable in one chunk. At least, that was the way it was done in the seventies when my father was buried near the plot where my grandfather's marker had recently been replaced by someone else's marker. That's when everyone else in my family decided to be cremated, I think.
The reason for leasing rather than buying plots is one of recycling land that has been designated for a particular use, but is in short supply. Developers in cities look hungrily at cemetaries as "wasted space" -- think how many living persons per square foot could be accommodated if there were no cemetaries! And since the dead don't pay mortgages (or real estate taxes), land developers are very likely one reason for a shortage of cemetary space. Municipal tax assessment officials would run a close second.
Having said that, if I were a member of the Blake family, I would look into the law on cemetaries in Quebec. Their family bought the plot in 1892. When did the province enact the law? If the law came in after 1892, it's possible they may be able to fight this on the basis of a grandfather (no pun intended...oh, wotthehell...pun intended) clause, if such a thing exists in this case.
That is very intersesting Chimera. Nothing of the sort was even mentioned when we layed my father to rest in Kelowna just over two years ago. I therefore assumed as I guess most people do, that this was his FINAL resting place. I'll have to check into this one further. Will also check into what the Alberta laws are as most of my relatives are buried here. I will do a follow up post on this one me thinks....
Things may have changed since my father was buried, Tim. But that's what we were told by the cemetery officials at the time. We had been trying to get a plot adjacent adjacent to my grandfather's, but we were told that it no longer belonged to my grandfather (after a 25-year period following his burial). And they cited 25 years as being "one generation" -- for some reason, they expect that after that amount of time, nobody will be interested in visiting the grave anymore.
The possible exception to this rule might happen if a family buys or leases an area that they can fence off for their own personal use. But I honestly don't know if that's a viable idea or not. My own family is scattered so widely around the world that nobody ever got interested enough to ask.
By th' way...my grandfather (or what was left of him) was never moved. The new tenant in the plot was simply set down right on top of him. Kinda makes ya wanna go *oof*...
Tim - only in Alberta! can you buy, lease OR rent a plot. Ah, free markets.
So you just need to read the fine print on a contract. From my quick scan, it looks like prior to 1960, it was probably just "buy."
I know the church cemetery my grandparents are buried in requires an annual maintenance fee, but the plots themselves are only around $600. Of course, it's 50-60 clicks from the city, which probably helps.
Now where on earth did you find that info? I have been searching without any luck!
Post a Comment