Burial Plot Rights in New Jersey Divorce: A Comprehensive Guide

One type of property that oftentimes is not immediately contemplated at the commencement of a New Jersey divorce is a burial plot or vault in a mausoleum. The reality is that more and more married couples are engaging in pre-death planning, including the purchase of a burial plot in a cemetery or a vault in a mausoleum. If you are part of such a couple, and you are now considering a New Jersey divorce, you need to be thinking about your burial plot or mausoleum vault – and by doing so, you may now find that you have some questions.

Legal Status of Burial Plots in New Jersey

On first blush, because a burial plot does involve a slice of ground, an understandable conclusion can be that a burial plot is considered a type of real estate in the Garden State. In point of fact, in New Jersey, a burial plot in a cemetery legally is classified as personal property. Understanding this distinction is an important starting point when it comes to the matter of burial plot rights (and mausoleum vault rights) during a New Jersey divorce.

Ownership Rights During Marriage

Before specific actions can be taken in regard to burial plot rights in New Jersey divorce, an examination of what type of ownership arrangement existed during the course of the marriage is undertaken by the court. There are three primary types of ownership scenarios that may exist when it comes to burial plots:

• Joint ownership considerations
• Individual ownership scenarios
• Pre-marriage burial plot ownership

The reality is that oftentimes a wedded couple will have a single burial plot but in a cemetery that permits a married couple to be buried in a pair of caskets, one on top of the other, within the same space. There are also situations in which a couple purchases a pair of plots next to each other to accommodate their remains when each spouse passes on.

There are rare situations in which each spouse for some reason or another owns an individual plot adjoining one another. In other words, spouses elect to have companion plots but in each of their individual names.

Finally, there are some instances in which one party to a marriage owned a plot prior to the commencement of that marriage. Dying the course of the marriage, the spouses intend to be buried together in the burial plot that was “brought into the marriage” by one of the spouses.

Division of Burial Plots in Divorce Proceedings

The equitable division or distribution of property standard is applied to burial plot rights in New Jersey divorce. This standard mandates that property and debt amassed by a couple during the course of a marriage are to be distributed fairly but not necessarily equally between the spouses.

What this effectively means is that a burial plot or burial plots will be considered as part of the assets to be distributed as part of a property settlement agreement or property division order by a divorce court.

Special Considerations and Complications

The stark but understandable reality is that divorced spouses are not going to want to be buried together. Thus, in resolving burial plot rights in New Jersey divorce, there typically is a pair of choices available to a couple involved in a marriage dissolution proceeding:

• Sell a burial plot or burial plots
• Set aside a burial plot or burial plots to one of the spouses, which is then offset by another asset or other assets to the other party.

Some of the other unique considerations that need to be borne in mind when it comes to a burial plot or burial plots during a divorce include

• A consideration of pre-existing burial arrangements
• A situation involving family plots with multiple spaces
• Cemetery-specific regulations
• Impact on estate planning

Because of the complicated nature of burial plot rights in New Jersey divorce, legal assistance is nearly always a necessity. There can be some notable complications associated with dealing with these assets, as has been discussed previously in this article. For this reason, engaging the professional assistance of skilled, experienced New Jersey divorce attorney is a true necessity. If you have questions concerning burial plots and a New Jersey Divorce, call the Law Offices of Peter Van Aulen today at (201) 845-7400 for a free consultation.