Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Indiana

In 2008 I met with the caretaker of where my mother is buried. There is a family plot. My grandfather paid for 4 plots and my uncle paid for the other 4. The 4 my grandfather paid for are taken. The other 4 my uncle paid for has two opened. There are no living direct heirs to my uncle except my 5 first cousins and my family of 5 (brother, sister, uncle, cousin) I met with the caretaker asking to be buried next to my mother. I was told the two empty plots were a family plot and were taken (which they were not) and I could not have them. I purchased 4 others. When the mother of the 5 cousins passed, they told me they were going to bury their mother next to mine. I asked them how they were going to do that as I tried to get the 2 empty plots and was told I could not have them. The cousins met with the care taker who told them it was a family plot and were there any other living family members who would object. They told him NO. There are 5 of us who STRONGLY OBJECT. It would not be such an emotional issue if they had come to us and said they could not afford to bury their mother, if I had not asked the caretaker for the lots and if they had not told the caretaker there was no one else who objected. To make matters worse, the attorney who I first consulted with is now representing them!! I had sent a registered letter to them as a first attempt to try and resolve this out of court. Their attorney sent me a letter and told me I need to determine who has ownership of those 2 (now 1) empty plots. How can they be more entitled to them than us? It is very upsetting that they sneaked around and got it through deception AT NO COST (that is the kind of dead beats they are). They have not paid one red dime toward placing their mother there when I was willing to pay for them 9 months prior to her death, paid NOTHING toward maintenance (I have) and a year later have not even put up a marker?


Asked on 6/10/10, 7:34 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Jay Rigdon Rockhill Pinnick LLP

Not a question of "entitlement". If you are talking about the plots that your uncle paid for, they belong to him. If he gave them to his children, they belong to them. You have to pay for the plots to own them, and in your posting, it doesn't sound like you have paid for any other than the adjoining four (not the two that your uncle paid for that were open, and now apparantly just one open).

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Answered on 6/12/10, 12:31 pm


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