10/21/2025
This is a friendly reminder that we will be conducting our Park Cleanup from November 10th through November 21st. We appreciate your cooperation during this time as we work to maintain and enhance the beauty of our shared outdoor space.
Below is a summary of our Park Rules and Regulations to ensure everyone continues to enjoy the park safely and respectfully:
CEMETERY RULES AND REGULATIONS
If you own a home in a planned community or other housing development built in recent years, there is a good chance that your use of that property is subject to various restrictions, commonly called “Bylaws,” or “CCRs” (Covenants, Codes and Restrictions). These rules often place restrictions on the appearance and use of the property. For example, such rules may prevent a homeowner from painting his house purple, constructing a barbed wire fence around his property, using the front lawn as a junkyard, or keeping livestock or exotic animals on the property. The basic concept is that some restrictions on individual freedom are justified by the common good of maintaining a peaceful and pleasant looking neighborhood.
Cemetery property is also subject to various restrictions designed to protect the interests of all individuals who own property within the cemetery and to help promote and preserve the cemetery’s appearance and beauty. At SCI cemeteries, these restrictions are set forth in a document known as the “Rules and Regulations” of the cemetery. All purchases of interment rights within the cemetery are subject to those Rules and Regulations. Accordingly, it is important for our cemetery employees to have a good understanding of these Rules and Regulations, to ensure that they are properly enforced, and so that we can accurately communicate to our customers what is and is not permissible in connection with their cemetery property. Because funeral home customers may also occasionally ask questions about cemetery-related issues, it is helpful for our funeral home employees to have some general familiarity with these issues as well. Set forth below are examples of some significant issues addressed by our cemetery Rules and Regulations.
• Cemetery property may not be used for any purpose other than the interment of human remains.
• Burial of animals in the cemetery is prohibited.
• Cemetery property may be purchased only for personal or family interment purposes and not for speculation.
• Markers, monuments, and outer burial containers are subject to the cemetery’s specifications regarding material, dimensions and certain other factors.
• Customers are not entitled to do their own planting, sodding or other landscaping without the cemetery’s permission.
• The cemetery may refuse to place, and may remove, any markers or monuments containing inscriptions or symbols which are deemed offensive or inappropriate.
• If any marker or monument becomes unsightly, dilapidated or a nuisance, it may be removed by the cemetery.
• Flowers may be removed by the cemetery when they become wilted or otherwise unsightly.
• Customers are not permitted to leave toys, mementos or other objects on gravesites, and the cemetery is permitted to remove such items that are placed there.
• Although an owner of interment rights is free to transfer those interment rights through a written instrument during his lifetime or upon death through a will, oftentimes an owner passes away without having made any transfer of his or her interment rights. The Rules and Regulations specify who owns and who can use cemetery property in that situation.
These are just some of the many provisions contained in the Rules and Regulations of SCI cemeteries. I would encourage you to review those Rules and Regulations in their entirety when time permits. The Rules and Regulations should be available in the cemetery’s office for your review, and can also be found on the Legal Department site on the Global Village.
It is a good practice to make customers aware of these Rules and Regulations when they purchase cemetery property, so that there is no confusion or misunderstanding about the rights they are acquiring and the restrictions that exist pertaining to such property. A complete set of the cemetery’s Rules and Regulations should be provided to new property owners when they receive their Certificate of Interment Rights. In addition, we should provide a copy of those Rules and Regulations to any property owner who requests a copy. If you have any questions concerning cemetery Rules and Regulations, feel free to contact our Legal Department.
We thank you in advance for your attention to these guidelines and for helping keep our park clean, safe, and enjoyable for everyone.
Our next Park Clean Up is scheduled for Jan. 19th through January 30th.
