Property taxes and cemetaries

[Cluricaun]

So it's that time of year again where I'm working on doing some property tax sales at work, and nobody here knows the answer. If you don't pay your property taxes you will lose your property. A third party can step in and pay the taxes on your behalf and after two years of payments can petition the court to show that you've willfully abandonded the property and the ownership can be transferred to the third party if you can't cough up the scratch plus interest. That's how it is in Illinois, it's likey not too different where you are. So make sure that you pay your property taxes.

Anyway, if there was a private cemetary, so not one associated with a church making it tax exempt, were to not be able to pay their taxes and I stepped in and did the above mentioned scenario and became the owner of the cemetary via a court ordered tax petition......can I do whatever I want with the cemetary then? Can I dig up all the people and steal their rings and watches? If I own the cemetary as a third party, do I own EVERYTHING in the cemetary?

[OneCentStamp]

I wonder if you could buy the cemetery, then sell the salvage rights by individual plot, almost like sealed packs of baseball cards. What you get is what you get.

[Cluricaun]

Exactly. I'm interested in legalized grave robbing I suppose.

[Feirefiz]

I don't know about your jurisdiction, but there is a good chance that there are laws that protect graves, no matter who owns the land.

You would also have to take the original terms and conditions of the plots into account. For example here they are typically rented for 20-30 years at a time and a change of ownership of the cemetery wouldn't change anything about ongoing contracts.