§ 1513. Sale of burial rights.

(a) Conveyance of lots. (1) Except as otherwise provided in this
paragraph the right to use any lot, plot or part thereof may be sold or
conveyed only by the cemetery corporation. (2) It shall be unlawful for
any person, firm or corporation to purchase or for a cemetery
corporation to sell a lot, plot or part thereof for the purpose of
resale. This provision, however, shall not prohibit the sale to its
members of lots, plots or parts thereof, or the right to use any lot,
plot or part thereof, by a membership or religious corporation or
unincorporated association or society which provides burial benefits for
its members. (3) It shall be unlawful for a cemetery corporation to pay
or offer to pay, or for any person, firm or corporation to receive,
directly or indirectly, a commission, bonus, rebate or other things of
value for, or in connection with, the sale of any lot, plot or part
thereof, or the sale of space in a public mausoleum, or the furnishing
by or through the cemetery corporation of any service, merchandise,
wares, goods or articles. The provisions of this paragraph shall not
apply to a person regularly employed and supervised by the cemetery
corporation. (4) Notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of this
paragraph, and subject to the provisions of section fifteen hundred
sixteen of this article, a cemetery corporation may enter into a
contract with a third-party vendor to create and maintain a website for
the purposes of the sale of any lot, plot or part thereof, or the sale
of space in a public mausoleum, or the furnishing by or through the
cemetery corporation of any service, merchandise, wares, goods or
articles. The third-party vendor may charge a fee for a transaction made
through this website, provided that a fee for all such transactions is
specified in the contract and is not dependent on or related to the
value of the lot, goods or services to be sold by the cemetery
corporation. (5) A violation of this paragraph shall constitute a
misdemeanor and shall be punishable by a fine of not more than five
hundred dollars or not more than six months imprisonment or both. Each
violation shall constitute a separate offense.

(b) Prices for burial rights and instruments of conveyance. (1) The
directors must fix and determine the prices of the burial lots, plots or
parts thereof, and keep a plainly printed copy of the schedules of such
prices conspicuously posted in each of the offices of the corporation,
open at all reasonable times to inspection, and shall file a schedule of
such prices in the office of the cemetery board. (2) Unless its
certificate of incorporation or by-laws otherwise provide, and subject
to its rules and regulations, the corporation shall sell and convey to
any person the use of the lots, plots or parts thereof designated on the
map filed in the office of the corporation, on payment of the prices so
fixed and determined, but need not sell and convey more than one lot,
plot or part thereof to any one person. Conveyances of lots, plots and
parts thereof shall be signed by the president or vice-president and
treasurer or assistant treasurer of the corporation. A written contract
for the sale or use of a lot, plot or part thereof shall have attached
thereto and made a part thereof a copy of the rules and regulations of
the cemetery corporation or such parts of such rules and regulations as
relate to the size and placement of monuments, restrictions on plot
usage, warranties, obligations of the cemetery corporation and financial
obligations and duties of the lot owner. If a lot, plot or part thereof
is sold without a written contract, the corporation shall, before any
part of the purchase price is paid by the purchaser, deliver to the
purchaser a copy of the rules and regulations or such parts thereof as
would be required to be attached to a written contract. Nothing in this
subdivision shall prevent the subsequent amendment of such rules and
regulations to increase the charges for services rendered by the
corporation or in other particulars by or with the consent of the
cemetery board under section fifteen hundred nine of this article. (3) A
cemetery corporation that shall sell a lot, plot or part thereof, in
excess of the price shown on the schedule filed in the office of the
cemetery board, and any person acting for or on behalf of the cemetery
corporation in connection with such sale, shall each forfeit to the
people of the state of New York a sum equivalent to three times the
excess amount so paid. Such penalty may be recovered in a civil action
by the cemetery board. (4) The instrument of conveyance of any burial
lot, plot or part thereof shall include the actual amount paid therefor
and a description showing the dimensions of the property conveyed, and
the plot number, section and block number as they appear on the cemetery
map.

(c) Resale by lot owner. Before any burial shall have been made in any
such lot, plot or part thereof, or, if all the bodies therein have been
lawfully removed, the lot owner may sell or convey such lot, plot or
part thereof upon notice to the cemetery. Such sale shall only occur in
those instances where the owner of such lot, plot or part thereof shall
have offered it to the cemetery corporation within one year prior to the
sale, in writing by registered or certified mail, at the price paid
therefor by said lot owner, together with simple interest at the rate of
four per centum per annum, and the cemetery corporation shall have
failed to accept such offer within thirty days after the making thereof.
Subsequent to the receipt of notice of sale of such lot, plot or part
thereof, the secretary of the cemetery corporation shall file and record
in its books all instruments of transfer. An owner may convey or devise
to the corporation his right and title in and to any such lot, plot or
part thereof.

(d) Lots held in inalienable form. (1) No portion of the cemetery of a
cemetery corporation which any person other than the corporation is
entitled to use for burial purposes, or in which bodies have been buried
and not removed, shall be sold, mortgaged or leased by the corporation.
A cemetery corporation may convey any lot so that upon such conveyance,
or after an interment therein, such lot shall be forever inalienable,
and upon the death of the lot owner shall pass to such person or persons
as may be designated in the conveyance or if no such designation be
made, shall descend as provided in section fifteen hundred twelve of
this article. Any one or more of the owners of such a lot may release or
devise to any other owner of the lot his interest therein on such
conditions as shall be specified in the release or will. (2) Any person
who is the sole owner of the burial rights in a cemetery lot, plot or
any part thereof, in which a burial has been made, may give his entire
interest, or, if not prohibited by the rules and regulations of the
cemetery corporation, any portion thereof to any person within the third
degree of consanguinity to the owner, or, in the event that no such
person exists, within the fourth degree of consanguinity to such owner.
Such conveyance shall be made subject to the right of interment of the
spouse of any deceased owner, which right said spouse may release at any
time, but no conveyance or devise by any other person shall deprive the
surviving spouse of such right. Burial rights shall not be conveyed
pursuant to the provisions of this subparagraph more frequently than
once in any ten-year period. (3) A cemetery corporation may take and
hold any lot conveyed or devised to it by the lot owner so that
thereafter it will be inalienable, and the interments therein shall be
restricted to such person or class of persons as may be designated in
the conveyance or devise. (4) The title of a lot owner shall not be
affected by the dissolution of the corporation, by non-user of its
corporate rights and franchises by any act of forfeiture on its part, by
any alienation of its property or by incumbrance thereon made or
suffered by it.