Oklahoma § 8-182 - Acquisition of existing cemeteries - Written reports Hearings - Determination - Exceptions

§ 8-182. Acquisition of existing cemeteries - Written reports Hearings - Determination - Exceptions

(a) Any corporation, association, individual, partnership,

trust, or any other organization however constituted which after the

effective date of this act locates or establishes a cemetery,

providing a grave, vault, columbarium, public mausoleum or other

receptacle for the burial of dead human remains, in any county of

the state, shall be subject to the provisions of this act.

(b) No corporation, association, individual, partnership, trust

or any other organization however constituted, shall after the

effective date of this act purchase or acquire, directly or

indirectly, any interest in or the control of an existing cemetery

or property which has been used as a burial ground in any county of

this state, for the purpose of engaging in the business of the

ownership, establishment, maintenance or operation of a cemetery,

providing a grave, vault, columbarium, public mausoleum or other

receptacle for the burial of dead human remains, unless and until a

written report thereof is made to the board of county commissioners

wherein the cemetery or burial ground is located, and an approval

order is issued by the board to such organization prior to such

purchase or acquisition. The written report shall be made and

subscribed to by the interested parties, and shall be in such form

and detail as the board shall prescribe and require. In the event

the board finds, after the written report is made and a hearing held

thereon, that the proposed purchase or acquisition and the

consummation thereof will result in an evasion or avoidance of this

act in that the organization proposing to so purchase or acquire

intends to substantially change or alter the method or plan of

operation of the cemetery or burial ground, which is hereby declared

to constitute the location and establishment of cemetery after the

effective date of this act, then and in that event the board shall

issue an order disapproving the proposed purchase or acquisition,

and it shall be unlawful for such purchase or acquisition, to be

thereafter consummated unless and until such organization applies

for and is issued a certificate of authority as provided by Section

3 of this act. In the event the board finds, after the written

report is made and a hearing held thereon, that the proposed

purchase or acquisition and the consummation thereof will not result

in an evasion or avoidance of this act as hereinbefore provided,

then and in that event the board shall issue an order approving the

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 8. Cemeteries

proposed purchase or acquisition and such organization shall not be

required to apply for and be issued a certificate of authority as

provided by Section 3 of this act. This subsection shall not apply

to or affect the inheritance of any interest in or the control of a

cemetery, mausoleum or burial ground.

(c) The provisions of this act shall not apply to a municipal,

religious, fraternal, rural community, township, state, county and

nonprofit corporate cemeteries and free community burial grounds

which are subject to and regulated by Chapters 1, 2, 3, and 5 of

Title 8, Oklahoma Statutes 1951; nor to cemeteries operated by

charitable and eleemosynary institutions.

(d) The provisions of this act shall not apply to or affect the

purchase or acquisition by an existing cemetery of additional real

property which is immediately adjacent and adjoining to such

cemetery nor to the construction of a mausoleum or columbarium on

the real property of a cemetery.

Laws 1955, p. 104, § 2.