How long can a grave be kept?

When you buy a burial plot, often what you’re actually doing is buying a Grant of Exclusive Right of Burial, which is the right to decide who is buried there for a set period of time (usually about 25–100 years).

How long before a grave is reused?

This is usually after several decades and depends on the cemetery. Think of it like a lease – the lease on the plot may run out in 20 years, in which case they may offer the opportunity to renew the lease. If the lease is not renewed, the plot will be reused.

Do you have a grave forever?

Many people think that once someone has been buried, they essentially own the land that they are buried in forever. But the fact is, very few local authorities sell graves ‘in perpetuity’.

How long are bodies kept in cemeteries?

By 50 years in, your tissues will have liquefied and disappeared, leaving behind mummified skin and tendons. Eventually these too will disintegrate, and after 80 years in that coffin, your bones will crack as the soft collagen inside them deteriorates, leaving nothing but the brittle mineral frame behind.

How long does it take to maintain a grave site?

You definitely don’t want to create a mess or hazard that as maintenance worker will have to deal with later. Grave site maintenance shouldn’t take you more than an hour, if you do it twice a year. That isn’t a very big commitment for something that memorializes the life of somebody you loved.

Is it legal to abandon a cemetery?

Such abandonment is a question of fact or a mixed question of law and fact[ii]. However, a cemetery is not abandoned as long as it is kept and preserved as a resting place for the dead with anything to indicate the existence of graves, or as long as it is known and recognized by the public as a graveyard[iii].

Are cemeteries maintaining their graves?

Most cemeteries only provide maintenance of common areas and general cleanup and mowing around individual graves. If your loved one is buried in a cemetery that has fallen on tough financial times, or is no longer being actively managed, it can be in a complete state of disrepair.

How long does it take for a cemetery plot to decompose?

If they not want to do this, the plot can be used by another family, because often there are space for one or two coffin or some urns. The old coffins/urns has during the 25+ years been “composted” and takes very little place. The headstone will be removed and destroyed. Depends, in the netherlands it’s 20 years normally, 10 years in big cities.