InfoSub - Cemetery Concerns

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InfoSheet SubPage - Cemetery Concerns

Ocean Grove Memorial Home
118 Main Avenue, Ocean Grove, New Jersey 07756

Thomas J. Saragusa, Manager
N. J. License No. 4036

VOICE 732-775-0434 - - OGMHognj@aol.com

General Cemetery Information

The Ocean Grove Memorial Home is prepared to contact your cemetery for you and to make the burial arrangements that we discuss at the arrangement conference. It should be noted, however, that you are the client of the cemetery, not the funeral home. The cemetery management may react to your requests more favorably than to our requests (even though those requests are on your behalf).

The term cemetery is generally used to include all places where humans bury their dead. Relatively recently, a different kind of "cemetery" has come into being that is known as a Memorial Park. The difference is merely that a Memorial Park restricts the form of marking graves to flush bronze plaques; it does not allow any kind of stone monument and it usually restricts all planting to specified areas which are often separated from individual gravesites. They do allow the bronze memorial plaques to include a vase for the display of real or, more commonly, plastic flowers.

CEMETERY POLICY CONCERNS:

The Deed - Many cemeteries ask to see the deed but few insist on actually seeing it. If you can locate and obtain it, you may want to carry the deed to the cemetery on the day of the interment, but you needn’t show it unless it is specifically requested. Those cemeteries that demand its presentation usually make that need clear.

Payment - All cemeteries require that their charges be paid in full prior to the completion of the interment. The payment can usually be made upon arrival at the cemetery on the day of the interment. Some cemeteries require a certified check or a bank check or a check issued by the funeral home (as opposed to the lot-owner's personal check).
As it is not within the scope of our service to advance payment for the purchase or the opening of a grave, it is necessary that you make arrangements to satisfy this cemetery requirement prior to the day of the interment. Any financial arrangement that you make directly with the cemetery is satisfactory to the funeral home and (as a courtesy to you) we will receive the payment that is due to the cemetery and pass it along to them on the day of the interment.

Burial Enclosures - Most New Jersey cemeteries require that a hard outer enclosure...a burial "vault" be provided to surround the casket in the ground. The purpose of this requirement is so that the surface of the ground does not sag or become depressed when the casket decays or rusts...the purpose of the hard (concrete) enclosure is to support the earth above it. Usually this is the only requirement that the cemetery has for burial merchandise.
A few cemeteries don’t allow thinwalled or unsealed outer burial enclosures. In the central Monmouth County area, Monmouth Memorial Park in Tinton Falls, the Hamilton Cemetery in Neptune and Mt. Calvary Cemetery in Neptune, don’t allow the use of a rough concrete burial enclosure.

Double Depth Burials - Most Monmouth County cemeteries allow only one burial per grave. When two burials are allowed in one grave, there may be an additional charge for the first (deeper) burial. Usually, the more metropolitan the area, the less strict are the cemetery rules and restrictions ...and the more costly are the services by the cemetery.

Exclusive Sections - Many cemeteries and memorial parks have set aside certain sections of their property for the use of certain cultural, religious, fraternal or military groups. (NOTE: Be aware that even at “non-profit” cemeteries [which they all are] nothing is free...if you are offered a “free” grave, there is usually some other requirement attached. State or Federally operated Veterans’ Cemeteries are the only exception to this rule.)

Many cemeteries offer a reduced price section for the burial of veterans. If you are (or the decedent was) a veteran and you are interested in purchasing a veteran’s gravespace, please ask the funeral director for his input. Every eligible veteran is entitled to a free grave in a National Veterans’ Cemetery...but there are no active National Veteran’s Cemeteries in or near New Jersey. The closest active national cemetery is on eastern Long Island or in central Pennsylvania and the selection of a grave in these cemeteries is expensive because of travel time.

The State of New Jersey operates the Brigadier General William C. Doyle Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery in Arneytown, N. J., near Fort Dix, for the burial of veterans who have been residents of the State of New Jersey for two years. Located approximately 20 miles southwest of Freehold, this cemetery is open to eligible New Jersey veterans and their immediate dependents. Eligible veterans are entitled to a free grave space, the free opening (digging) of the grave, a free unsealed concrete grave liner, and a bronze memorial with a granite base, all at no charge. A waterproof burial vault is allowed but it must be provided and paid for by the family of the veteran.

Burial Authorizations - Although the funeral home can usually make all arrangements with the cemetery, some cemeteries require that the lot owner (or his representative) appear at the cemetery to point out which grave is to be opened. When convenient, the lot-owner should try to visit the cemetery or at least contact the cemetery by phone to discuss the location of the grave to be used. If your cemetery requires you to appear, and it's not convenient, contact the funeral home for help...sometimes a request to appear is used merely to enable an uninformed purchase. The FAX machine is a great help when special authorizations are required. Sometimes a written authorization is required at the time of interment, merely for the records of the cemetery.

Some older religious cemeteries require a written authorization from the church were the Funeral Mass is celebrated as proof of eligibility for burial. If "Priest Lines" are required, the funeral home will obtain and present them to the cemetery for you.

For all burials, the Ocean Grove Memorial Home produces a generic written burial authorization that is signed by the person authorizing burial and subsequently presented to the cemetery along with the legal "Burial Permit" that is required to be filed with the cemetery.

Sodding, Seeding and Maintanence - Normally, after a burial has taken place, the original sod that was removed from the grave is replaced...new sod is rarely used. When the grave is dug mechanically, the old sod is sometimes destroyed and those cemeteries merely reseed the surface of the grave. A certain degree of ongoing maintanence is assumed by the cemetery but the older and less used a cemetery becomes, usually the poorer it is maintained. If the cemetery doesn't do a good job, the lot-owner normally has the right to maintain the appearance of his own plot.

Markers and Monuments - Most cemeteries reserve the right to approve any marker or monument that is to be installed on a grave or plot of graves. Many cemeteries strictly control the size or shape or color and even the emblems on markers. You should ask the administrator of your cemetery about any limitation that your cemetery places on proposed markers before you order a new stone or bronze memorial. Many cemeteries charge a permit fee when a new marker is installed and most reserve the right to set a concrete foundation for the marker (and charge for it).

Closings and Overtime - Most cemeteries open for burials during the morning at 9:00 to 9:30...some close for lunch...and most will not accept a burial after 2:30 or 3:00 on weekdays.

Most cemeteries close at noon on Saturdays and do not allow burials on Sundays and Holidays...but often there are exceptions and when agreed to, the exception usually costs more money. Most cemeteries charge more for Saturday morning burials than they do for weekday burials...and more on Saturday afternoons than during the morning.

Many cemeteries charge overtime by the half hour for every half hour that the funeral procession (in its entirity) arrives after a specified assigned (or closing) time...military cemeteries are especially time conscious and some don't allow burials at all on Saturdays. If we are late at a military cemetery we may "lose our turn" and have to wait until an "opening in the schedule" occurs (they're not allowed to charge more).

CEMETERY COST CONCERNS:

Even though all cemeteries are "non-profit," nothing is free (except at State or National Cemeteries).

You will/may be charged for any of the following services if you want or require them:

Use of Grave Space - per burial including multiple burials

Maintanence and Care

Perpetual Care - usually a one-time flat fee per surface grave

Annual Maintanence - usually a flat fee per surface grave per year

Cost to open (dig) the grave

Full adult size

Full size - additional depth

Child

Cremated remains (Occasionally the charge is less if the family is NOT present for the burial, i.e., if the cemetery can bury ashes at its convenience.)

Equipment Charges - e.g., the use of: artificial grass - casket lowering devise - tent - chairs

Marker / Monument Foundation charges - often based on size

Monument Alteration Permit Fee

Raising - a settled marker

Registration of Heirs - when the owner of record changes

Processing Fee - Administration Fee

In addition to the above charges, some cemeteries will not allow outside contractors to perform their services in the cemetery. Examples of those services can be - The installation of the vault by the vault company - The erection of a tent by the vault company. When a tent is owned by a cemetery they may have a tent order deadline and not allow us to order a tent erected on the day of the interment...we often have to guess whether one will be needed or not the next day. In addition to a tent, the cemetery may charge for the use of chairs, artificial grass and the casket lowering devise even if they are usually provided by the vault company.

MERCHANDISE SALE ISSUES:

All cemeteries in New Jersey currently enjoy the privilege of being classified as not-for-profit and therefore are not subject to certain taxes, such as real estate taxes. Consequently, though, they are not allowed to sell merchandise (that is not constructed on site).

A cemetery may not sell burial vaults...you must purchase a burial vault from a "for profit" funeral home or some other vendor.

A cemetery may not sell grave markers or plaques or plaque bases or monuments or vases...you must purchase a marker or plaque or monument from a "for profit" funeral home or monument dealer or some other vendor.

Cemeteries may sell, however, their services and right-of-burial in the ground that they continue to own. (That's right, you don't own the ground for which you get a deed, merely the right to use it in a manner that the cemetery specifies in its agreement that you must sign.) You will notice in the list of chargable items above that all of them are for services that the cemetery personel perform.

They can sell "merchandise" that they construct on site, such as concrete foundations and such things as a private mausoleum building.

The cemetery associations are lobbying to have these merchandise issues changed...and the funeral associations are lobbying against such changes.

PREPAYMENT ISSUES:

With the exception only for recipients of Medicaid, when a funeral home receives payment for any product and/or any service to be provided "at a future date" the funeral home is required by statute to place 100% of those prepaid funds in a revocable, interest bearing, approved trust fund in which the interest accrues to the benefit of the purchaser. Prepaid funds for Medicaid recipient funerals must be irrevocably trusted, i.e., the Medicaid recipient may not revoke the trust and receive the principal and interest back from the trust.

Cemeteries are NOT so required. When they sell a grave in advance of need, the only limitation that faces the cemetery is that they must place a percentage of the sale price (merely 15%) in their Maintanence and Preservation Trust Fund. They may expend the rest. Likewise, when a cemetery accepts pre-need funds to open the grave or to provide any other service that they are to provide in the future, they may expend 100% of the funds upon receipt.

The funeral home industry believes that all prepaid funds should be trusted 100% along with 100% of all interest accruing to the benefit of the purchaser. It seems to us that the purchaser is best protected when all of the prepaid money including the interest is available when it is needed..

LINKS to outside sites:

N. J. State Cemetery Board

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