2023 New York Laws › TWN - Town › Article 17 - Cemeteries › 296 - Abandonment of Cemeteries.

§  296.  Abandonment of cemeteries. Upon a verified petition presented
  to a judge of a court of record by any supervisor of any  town  in  this
  state,  the judge to whom said verified petition is presented shall make
  an order to show cause, returnable before him at a time and place within
  the county in not less than twenty days from the date of presentation of
  said petition, why the remains of any deceased person buried in potter's
  field, or in any neglected or abandoned cemeteries in which no  deceased
  person  shall  have  been  interred  within  twenty years, should not be
  removed to and reinterred in a properly kept  incorporated  cemetery  in
  the  same  town  or  in  a  town or city adjoining the town in which the
  remains of each deceased person or persons are buried, and  to  fix  the
  amount  of  expenses  for such removal and reinterment, and the order to
  show cause shall provide for its  publication  in  a  newspaper,  to  be
  designated in the order, which is published nearest to the cemetery from
  which  the  removal  is to be made, once in each week for two successive
  weeks. The verified petition presented to the judge shall show that  the
  petitioner is a supervisor of the town in which said cemetery is located
  and  (1)  the  name  of the deceased person or persons whose remains are
  sought to be removed, if  known;  (2)  the  name  and  location  of  the
  cemetery  in  which he is interred and from which removal is asked to be
  made; (3) the name and location of the incorporated  cemetery  to  which
  the  remains  are  desired  to  be removed and reinterred; (4) the facts
  showing the reasons for such removal. Upon the return day of  the  order
  to show cause and at the time and place fixed in said order, upon filing
  proof  of  publication  of the order to show cause with the judge, if no
  objection is made thereto, he shall make an order directing the  removal
  of  the  remains  of  said  deceased  person  or persons to the cemetery
  designated in the petition within the town or  city  or  within  a  town
  adjoining  the  town  or  city  in which the remains are then buried and
  shall specify in the order the amount of the expenses of  such  removal,
  which  expenses of removal and reinterment, including the expense of the
  proceeding under this section, shall be a charge upon the town in  which
  the  cemetery  is  situated  from  which  the  removal  is made and such
  expenses shall be a town charge and audited by the town board  and  paid
  in  the  same manner as other town charges. On and after the removal and
  reinterment of the remains  of  any  deceased  person  or  persons,  the
  expenses  for  annual  care  of  the  grave in the cemetery to which the
  removal is made shall be annually provided by  the  town  in  which  the
  remains  were  originally  buried at a rate not to exceed twenty dollars
  per grave, and shall be  paid  annually  to  the  incorporated  cemetery
  association  to which the remains of each deceased person may be removed
  or reinterred. Any town owning a lot or lots in a cemetery maintained by
  an incorporated cemetery association in which the  remains  of  deceased
  persons  have  been  or may be buried pursuant to this section, however,
  may pay such association an amount sufficient to provide perpetual  care
  therefor.  The  petition  and order shall be filed in the county clerk's
  office of the county in which the remains of the  deceased  person  were
  originally  interred,  and  the service of a certified copy of the final
  order upon the cemetery association shall be made prior to any  removal.
  Any  relative  of  the  deceased  person  or the officer of any cemetery
  association in which the remains of the deceased person were  originally
  interred  may  oppose  the  granting  of  said order and the judge shall
  summarily hear the statement of the parties and make such order  as  the
  justice  and  equity  of the application shall require. Any headstone or
  monument which marks the grave of the deceased person shall  be  removed
  and reset at the grave in the cemetery in which the removal is permitted
  to  be made and in each case the final order shall provide the amount of
  the expenses of such removals  and  reinterment  and  resetting  of  the

  headstone  or  monument, including the expenses of the proceedings under
  this section; except that where provision  is  otherwise  made  for  the
  purchase or erection of a new headstone, monument or marker at the grave
  in  the  cemetery to which such removal is permitted, such old headstone
  or monument need not be so removed and reset, in which case  such  final
  order  shall  not  provide for the expense of resetting. The order shall
  designate the person or  persons  having  charge  of  the  removals  and
  reinterments.  Upon completion of the removal, reinterment and resetting
  of the headstones or monuments, the person or persons having  charge  of
  the  same  shall  make a verified report of the removal, reinterment and
  resetting of the headstone or  monument  and  file  the  report  in  the
  clerk's office of the proper county.
After said bodies shall have been removed and reinterred in the manner
  prescribed by said order, said lands in which such deceased persons were
  originally  interred shall be available for and subject to such uses for
  town purposes as the town board of such town may determine  and  may  be
  conveyed  or  otherwise  disposed  of  in  the same manner as other town
  lands.