An Act To Clarify Access to Landlocked Ancient and Family Burying Grounds and To Clarify the Definition of Ancient Burying Ground
Maine Legislature, Session 128, LD 1346
Committee: State and Local Government
Sponsors: BRAKEY, CARPENTER, MASON
Amends: 13 MRSA §1101-A, 13 MRSA §1101-B, 13 MRSA §1142

Legislative Document
No. 1346
H.P. 936
House of Representatives, April 6, 2017
An Act To Clarify Access to Landlocked Ancient and Family 
Burying Grounds and To Clarify the Definition of Ancient Burying 
Ground
Reference to the Committee on State and Local Government suggested and ordered printed.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative CASÁS of Rockport.
Cosponsored by Senators: BRAKEY of Androscoggin, CARPENTER of Aroostook, MASON 
of Androscoggin.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1.  13 MRSA §1101-A, sub-§1, as enacted by PL 1999, c. 700, §2, is 
amended to read: 
1.  Ancient burying ground.  "Ancient burying ground" means a private cemetery 
established before 1880.  "Ancient burying ground" may include but is not limited to a 
private cemetery established before or pursuant to Public Law 1829, chapter 420, section 
or Public Law 1839, chapter 392 or a family burying ground established before 1880. 
Existence of an ancient burying ground may be documented in family papers, including, 
but not limited to, deeds or manuscripts or published records of the history of the county 
or municipality where the burying ground is located or on historic or current maps of the 
area where the burying ground is located.  Existence of an ancient burying ground may 
also be documented in the records of the register of deeds in the county where the burying 
ground was located when it was established or in the records of the municipality where 
the burying ground was when it was established, but the lack of documentation does not 
negate the existence of, or its status as, an ancient burying ground.  The lack of apparent 
marked boundaries for an ancient burying ground does not negate its existence or status 
as an ancient burying ground. 
Sec. 2.  13 MRSA §1101-B, sub-§1, as amended by PL 2013, c. 421, §2, is 
further amended to read: 
1.  Access to ancient burying ground surrounded by privately owned land for a 
municipality or its designated caretaker.  The owner of A person who owns a parcel of 
land that surrounds an ancient burying ground shall provide a municipality or its 
caretaker designated pursuant to section 1101 access necessary to perform the duties 
pursuant to section 1101 and Title 30-A, section 2901.  A municipality or its caretaker 
designated pursuant to section 1101 may access an ancient burying ground surrounded by 
privately owned land annually or as determined by the municipality or designated 
caretaker as necessary to protect and preserve the ancient burying ground.  Any 
unreasonable denial to provide of access may result in the owner being held responsible 
for any fines, court costs and attorney's fees incurred by municipalities in legally 
obtaining access or for failing to meet the requirements of section 1101. 
Sec. 3.  13 MRSA §1101-B, sub-§1-A is enacted to read: 
1-A.  Access to ancient burying grounds and family burying grounds 
surrounded by privately owned land by descendant or other relative or designated 
agent.  A person who owns a parcel of land that surrounds an ancient burying ground or 
family burying ground shall provide a descendant or other relative of a person buried in 
the ancient burying ground or family burying ground, or the designated agent of the 
descendant or other relative, access to the ancient burying ground or family burying 
ground pursuant to section 1142 to protect and preserve the ancient burying ground or 
family burying ground. Any unreasonable denial of access may result in the owner of the 
surrounding land being held responsible for any fines, court costs and attorney's fees 
incurred by the descendants or other relatives in legally obtaining access. 
The owner of the land surrounding an ancient burying ground or a family burying ground 
may designate the route a person must use to access the burying ground and is not liable 
for any injuries sustained by a person accessing the burying ground using the designated 
route or within the boundaries of the burying ground. The designated route may not 
present undue obstructions to passage. If an unobstructed route to the burying ground 
does not exist, the owner of the land surrounding the ancient burying ground or family 
burying ground shall file a notarized document listing all obstructions with the municipal 
clerk of the municipality where the ancient burying ground or family burying ground is 
situated. 
A person who owns a parcel of land surrounding an ancient burying ground or a family 
burying ground may file with the municipal clerk of the municipality where the ancient 
burying ground or family burying ground is situated a notarized document allowing 
access to that burying ground to a spouse, descendant or other relative of a person buried 
in the ancient burying ground or family burying ground or the designated agent of the 
spouse, descendant or other relative. 
Sec. 4.  13 MRSA §1142, as amended by PL 1991, c. 412, §1, is further amended 
to read: 
§1142.  Family burying grounds 
When a person appropriates for a family burying ground a piece of land containing 
not more than 1/4 of an acre, causes a description of it to be recorded in the registry of 
deeds of the same county or by the clerk of the town where it is situated and substantially 
marks the bounds of the burying ground or encloses it with a fence, it is exempt from 
attachment and execution.  No subsequent conveyance of it is valid while any person is 
interred in the burying ground; but it must remain to the person who appropriated, 
recorded and marked that burying ground and to that person's heirs as a burial place 
forever.  If property surrounding a burying ground appropriated pursuant to this section is 
conveyed, the property is conveyed by the person who appropriated the property or by an 
heir of that person and the conveyance causes the burying ground to be inaccessible from 
any public way, the conveyance is made subject to an easement for the benefit of the 
spouse, ancestors and, descendants and other relatives of any person interred in the 
burying ground or the designated agent of the spouse, ancestors, descendants and other 
relatives of any person interred in the burying ground.  The easement may be used only 
by persons only to walk in a direct route from the public way nearest the burying ground 
to the burying ground at reasonable hours during daylight hours.  The owner of the 
property surrounding the family burying ground may designate, pursuant to section 
1101-B, subsection 1-A, the direct route a person must use to access the family burying 
ground and is not liable for any injuries sustained by a person accessing the family 
burying ground while using the designated route or within the boundaries of the family 
burying ground. 
SUMMARY 
This bill amends the law governing family burying grounds and ancient burying 
grounds in the following ways. 
1.  It amends the definition of "ancient burying ground." 
2.  It provides that a municipality or its caretaker may access an ancient burying 
ground surrounded by privately owned land annually or as determined necessary by the 
municipality or its designated caretaker. 
3.  It provides that a person who owns land that surrounds an ancient burying ground 
or a family burying ground must provide a descendant or other relative of a person buried 
in the burying ground, or a designated agent of the descendant or other relative, access to 
the burying ground for the purposes of protecting and preserving it. 
4.  If property surrounding a burying ground is conveyed causing the burying ground 
to be inaccessible from a public way, the bill provides that the conveyance is made 
subject to an easement for the benefit of the spouse, ancestors, descendants and other 
relatives or the designated agent of the spouse, ancestors, descendants and other relatives 
of any person interred in the burying ground.  It also requires that the owner of the 
property surrounding the family burying ground designate the direct route a person must 
use to access the family burying ground and is not liable for injuries sustained by a person 
accessing the family burying ground.