(765 ILCS 835/12) (from Ch. 21, par. 21.5)
Sec. 12. In the event the owner, the claimant, or the heirs-at-law and
next-of-kin or the specific legatees under the will of
either the owner or
claimant submits proof of ownership to the court or appears and
answers
the petition, the presumption of abandonment
shall no longer exist and the court shall set the matter for hearing upon
the petition and such answers thereto as may be filed.
In the event the defendant or defendants fails to appear and answer
the petition, or in the event that upon the hearing the court determines
from the evidence presented that there has been an abandonment of the
cemetery interment right, entombment rights in a community mausoleum or lawn crypt section, or inurnment right in a community columbarium for 50 years or a continuous failure to pay
the annual or periodic maintenance or care charges on such interment right, entombment rights in a community mausoleum or lawn crypt section, or inurnment right in a community columbarium, or part
thereof, for a period of 30 years or more preceding the filing of the
petition, then, in either such event, an order shall be entered
adjudicating such interment right, entombment rights in a community mausoleum or lawn crypt section, or inurnment right in a community columbarium, to have been abandoned and
adjudging the right or easement for burial therein to be subject to sale by
the cemetery authority at the expiration of one year from the date of the
entry of such order. Upon entry of an order adjudicating abandonment of a
cemetery interment right, entombment rights in a community mausoleum or lawn crypt section, or inurnment right in a community columbarium, the court shall fix such sum as is deemed a
reasonable fee for the services of petitioner's attorney.
(Source: P.A. 94-44, eff. 6-17-05.)
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