Nebraska § 12-501 - Formation; trustees; election; notice; clerk; right to establish cemetery limited.

§ 12-501. Formation; trustees; election; notice; clerk; right to establish cemetery limited.

(1) For purposes of sections 12-501 to 12-532, cemetery association means an association formed under such sections.

(2) Every cemetery, other than those owned, operated, and maintained by the state, by towns, villages, and cities, by churches, by public charitable corporations, by cemetery districts, and by fraternal and benevolent societies, shall be owned, conducted, and managed by cemetery associations organized and incorporated as provided in sections 12-501 to 12-532 except as specifically provided in sections 12-530 and 12-812.

(3) The establishment of a cemetery by any agency other than those enumerated in this section shall constitute a nuisance, and its operation may be enjoined at the suit of any taxpayer in the state.

(4) Any number of the following individuals, not less than five, may form and organize a cemetery association: (a) A resident of the county in which the cemetery association is to be formed, (b) an owner of a lot within the cemetery for which the cemetery association is formed, and (c) any family member, including, but not limited to, a parent, spouse, sibling, child, or grandchild, of an individual buried in such cemetery. Cemetery association members shall elect at least three members to serve as trustees and one member to serve as clerk, who shall continue to serve in office at the pleasure of the association. All such elections shall take place at a meeting of four or more members of such association by a majority vote of those present. A notice for such meeting shall be published in a local newspaper, or posted in three places within the precinct or township in which the cemetery is or will be located, at least fifteen days prior to the meeting.

Under Nebraska's cemetery association laws, it is apparent that there is a public nature to certain of the statutory authority given cemetery associations with regard to cemetery property. Sjuts v. Granville Cemetery Assn., 272 Neb. 103, 719 N.W.2d 236 (2006).

This section contains the provisions under which cemetery association is established. Root v. Morning View Cemetery Assn., 174 Neb. 438, 118 N.W.2d 633 (1962).

Presumption of continued existence arises after proper organization. Tetschner v. Cram, 157 Neb. 734, 61 N.W.2d 378 (1953).

Amendment to bylaws of association organized under this article (sections 12-501 to 12-529), made without any notice whatever to members, is void, where bylaws required notice, but did not prescribe the manner thereof. State ex rel. Craig v. Offutt, 121 Neb. 76, 236 N.W. 174 (1931).

Property involved belonged to a private corporation organized under this section. Greenwood Cemetery v. City of Wayne, 110 Neb. 300, 193 N.W. 734 (1923).

Receiver denied for corporation organized under this article. Youngers v. Exeter Cemetery Assn., 85 Neb. 314, 123 N.W. 95 (1909).

Corporations organized under this article are private corporations. Pokrok Zapadu Publishing Co. v. Zizkovsky, 42 Neb. 64, 60 N.W. 358 (1894).

This article divests cities of control of cemeteries. State ex rel. Wyuka Cemetery Assn. v. Bartling, 23 Neb. 421, 36 N.W. 811 (1888).