Cemetery

Cemetery Handbook

Cost

Each grave is $1,100 if you are a registered parishioner, and $1,300 if you are a non-parishioner (costs are subject to change at any time). Columbarium niches are $1,300 (includes opening/closing fee). The price is set at the time of purchase. Purchase of several gravesites will all be listed under the family name. If the lots/gravesites are to be designated to each individual, Trust Deed and Letter to Trust Deed forms must be prepared. Payment is due at the time of purchase.

Monuments

If you wish to place a monument or a footstone at a gravesite, you are permitted to do so. Only one monument (or stone at least 12” above ground level) is permitted on each lot. A foot marker, level with the ground, may be placed at each grave.

Setting of Markers

The monument company is responsible for setting the memorial marker that is above the ground. Payment is made to the monument company. St. Peter’s Church installs foot markers for a fee of $150 (single marker) or $200 (double marker). Payment is made directly to St. Peter’s Cemetery.

Grave Opening and Closing

The cost to open and close a grave for full burial is $1,100. For cremated remains the cost is $700. Two cremation burials are allowed in one gravesite.

Site Verification

At the time of a death, we would like a member of the family to come to the cemetery and verify the burial site. It is recommended to check this site in the summertime in the event someone dies in the winter.

Perpetual Care

Care of the cemetery is the responsibility of those who have purchased lots in the cemetery. Since it is not practical for everyone to provide lawn care and watering, we hire a person to care for the cemetery. To allow us to care for the cemetery, we encourage you to make an annual donation to St. Peter’s Cemetery for upkeep.

Placement of Flowers

Several times during the year flowers are placed on the graves. We encourage this practice but ask that you remove any plastic flowers two weeks after you put them  on the grave. If you wish to install a permanent vase, it must be properly installed. Please see the cemetery caretaker to assist in proper installation. In order to facilitate maintenance of the cemetery the following rules should be followed.

• Decorating graves with fresh cut flowers is welcomed.
• No planting of any kind may be done in the ground at gravesites.
• Flowers placed at the time of interment will be left a minimum of three days. Potted plants from funerals are not allowed in the cemetery. They will be discarded.
• Flowers, plants and decorations placed on graves during the mowing season of April through October will be removed weekly in order to carry out the normal lawn care and maintenance.
• During the growing season, maintenance personnel remove unsightly decorations from graves.
• Spring clean up begins in March, weather permitting, and all winter decorations are removed.
• Fall clean up begins in October and all summer decorations are removed.
• Glass containers are not permitted at any burial site at any time.
• Decorations deemed objectionable can be removed at the discretion of cemetery management.
• The cemetery cannot assume any liability for decorations placed on burial sites.

For more information on our cemetery, contact Chris Seiple at 651-905-4307.

What Lot Owners Should Know About Cemetery Law

Purchase of a Burial Right

Cemeteries are allowed to grant to the lot purchasers only the right to burial, and that is the only title which a lot owner acquires when the lot is conveyed to them, no matter what form or deed be used. {Minnesota Statue (306.09)}

Burial Right Limitations

The law expressly forbids the burial of anyone on a lot who was not at the time of death, the owner of the lot, or a relative of the owner by blood or marriage, except by written consent of the cemetery. {Minnesota Statute (306.29)}

Ownership Restrictions

Lot owners cannot mortgage their lots; neither does the law tax them, or allow them to be taken away from the owner to pay his debts. {Minnesota Statute (306.29)}

Cemetery Rules and Regulations

Cemeteries are permitted by law to adopt rules and regulations for their government, and their deeds of burial lots may be made subject to such rules and regulations. {Minnesota Statute (306.09)}

Every modern cemetery has in force rules and regulations governing, among other things, planting or landscaping, monument work, burials, removals, conduct of visitors, speed of vehicles, etc. Lot owners are subject to all reasonable control by the cemetery in such matters, both by force of law as well as by the terms of the deeds by which their lots are conveyed to them.

Law Effective as of April 13, 1981

On April 13, 1981, the Minnesota Legislature amended the descent of title by eliminating the male preference. Section 525.14 of the Minnesota Statute has been changed to read as follows: “Subject to the right of interment of the decedent therein, a cemetery lot of burial plot, unless disposed of as provided in Section 306.29, shall descend free of all debts as follows:

1. To the decedent’s surviving spouse, a life estate with right of interment of the spouse therein, and remainder over to the person who would be entitled to the fee if there were no spouse, provided however, if no person so entitled to the remainder of the fee survives, then the entire fee to the surviving spouse with right of interment therein;
2. If there is no surviving spouse, then to the decedent’s eldest surviving child;
3. If there is no surviving child, then to decedent’s youngest surviving sibling;
4. If there is no surviving spouse, child or sibling of the decedent, then, if not sold during administration of decedent’s estate, to the cemetery association or private cemetery in trust as a burial lot for the decedent and such of the decedent’s relatives as the governing body thereof shall deem proper.

Basic Principle

Use Law in effect at time of last listed Lot Owner’s Death.

Transfer by Heir

A person who inherits title may, with consent of the cemetery, transfer a lot to any one of specified relatives of the deceased owner.

Trust Deeds

A lot owner may, by deed of trust, convey his/her lot to the cemetery to be held as a place of burial for the persons specified in the trust agreement.

Sale or Gift of Lot

The laws of this state forbid a lot owner to sell or give away all or any part of his/her lot. However, there are exceptions to this rule in addition to what has been stated in Transfer By Heir.

Will Requirement

Any owner of a cemetery lot may dispose of the same by will to any one of his relatives who may survive him/her.

How To Establish Title

“Evidence of such descent should be furnished to the Cemetery Administration by petition of one interested in such estate duly verified.” This rule provides a method to follow in cases where the deceased lot owner’s estate is not probated; or where his/her burial lot is not called to the attention of the Probate Court for award to the proper person.

A Cemetery Easement or Deed will be issued within 30 days of purchase or transfer of a gravesite.