Article VII: Interments and Disinterment

Section 1 General
A burial permit is required for interment of all bodies or cremated remains regardless of the type of interment desired.

The right is reserved by GHPRD to require at least 24 hours notice prior to any interment and at least one week=s notice prior to any disinterment or removal. Disinterment and removal will be scheduled by the Superintendent.

When an interment is to be made, it is the duty of the owner, or his successor or successors in burial rights, or someone authorized in writing to do so to come to the cemetery and select the grave or crypt from the spaces owned. GHPRD will not be responsible for errors in location.

GHPRD reserves the right to refuse interment in any lot and to refuse to open any burial space for any purpose except on written application signed by the lot owner, or by the successor or successors in burial rights. In case of a disagreement among joint owners of the lot, GHPRD will have full power to decide the matter in dispute and to accept or refuse orders from any one of the owners.

GHPRD is not liable for any delay in the interment of a body, if the delay results from a protest of interment when the rules have not been complied with. GHPRD will recognize no protest unless it is in writing, properly notarized, and filed with the Cemeteries office.

The preparation of graves, crypts, or niches and openings for disinterment will be done only by workers employed by GHPRD, for which charges as fixed by GHPRD will be made and paid for in advance.

No Cemetery personnel will be permitted to open the lid of a casket at any time under any circumstances.

No grave, crypt, or niche containing a body will be reopened for an additional interment except in the case of cremains where two interments are permitted in one grave space.

Section 2 In Ground Burials
Burials may not be made in any area designated as streets, walkways, or planting areas or in any other area which is not properly plotted and mapped.

No mounding of graves is permitted.

Every in ground interment, whether of a body or cremated remains, shall be made in an outer rigid permanent container. All caskets must be in an outer burial container constructed of concrete or steel.

Outer burial containers supplied by outside suppliers must be received in the cemetery by 8 a.m. on the day of the funeral. Late deliveries are subject to a late charge.

Section 3 Interment of Cremated Remains
Provisions may be made within the cemeteries for the interment of cremains of deceased persons.

Cremated remains may be interred and memorialized in either in ground or above ground modes. Regardless of the method of interment, cremated remains must be enclosed in a rigid, permanent, rustproof, waterproof, sealed container. Scattering of ashes anywhere within the bounds of GHPRD cemeteries is expressly prohibited.

A. In ground: grave spaces may be designated for the interment of cremated remains provided that no more than two such interments be made in any one space; that no more than one marker be placed on said space, (it may bear the names of both persons so interred); and provided further that such marker must comply with specifications for that particular section. Monuments may be placed where permitted with the same conditions applying.

Specialized sections within the cemeteries may be established solely for the interment of cremated remains. Persons electing interment in such sections must abide by the specific rules applying to them. Moreover, selection of memorials in these sections must be restricted to those specified by the cemetery.

B. Above ground: the cemetery may employ various means for the interment of cremated remains above ground level. Structures called columbarium, which contain multiple niches for the interment of cremated remains may be erected. Columbarium may be included within mausoleums. Other above ground ways of interring cremains may include, but are not restricted to, enclosing the ashes within monuments or memorial benches; however, plans for any such memorialization must be approved, in advance, by GHPRD.

Section 4 Mausoleums

A. Family Mausoleums
Detailed plans and specifications of the proposed mausoleum, with a drawing showing its proposed location on the lot, must be submitted to GHPRD for their approval. No construction may begin without such approval.

Before proceeding with construction, the lot owner or his representative must place in Perpetual Care Fund a sum to be held in trust by GHPRD. The amount will be determined by GHPRD, but it will in no case be less than 20% of the cost of the structure when completely erected, exclusive of the foundation costs. The amount of the Perpetual Care will be calculated from a certified copy of the sales agreement which will be furnished GHPRD with the application.

The mausoleum, whether constructed entirely or partly above ground, must be provided with a complete system of ventilation and with crypts entirely and separately enclosed independent of the walls, so arranged when a body is deposited therein, each crypt can be hermetically sealed.

The owner shall have sufficient space on all sides of the mausoleum so that no grave will be within three feet of the edges of the base of the mausoleum.

B. Community Mausoleum
The cemetery may erect structures for above ground interment containing multiple crypts which may be offered for sale to the general public.

Section 5 Disinterment
The disinterment and removal of a body will not be made without the assent in writing of the next of kin or person having authority to make decisions pertaining to the person whose body is to be removed or a court order instructing the Cemetery to take such action.

If a disinterment should result from some error on the part of the cemetery, such disinterment and re-interment will be performed at no charge to the family involved. In all cases the statutes of the State of West Virginia will prevail.

The Cemetery will exercise all reasonable precautions in making a removal, but it will be under no liability for damage to any casket, case, or urn, incurred in making the removal.