Rules and Regulations

For Grave Owners

1.0         INTRODUCTION:

For the mutual protection and benefit of grave owners, the following RULES AND REGULATIONS have been adopted by the Tye Cemetery Organization. All grave owners and visitors within the Cemetery and all graves sold shall be subject to said RULES AND REGULATIONS, and subject further to such other RULES AND REGULATIONS, amendments or alterations as shall be adopted from time to time. Existing Graves and Monuments will not be affected by these rules that were in place before such RULES AND REGULATIONS have been adopted.

2.0         DEFINITIONS:

The terms “Lot”, “Plot”, or “Burial Place” shall be used interchangeably and shall apply with like effect to one or more adjoining graves.

The term “interment” shall mean the permanent disposition of the remains of a deceased person by burial.

The term “inurnment” shall mean the permanent disposition of the cremated remains of a deceased person by burial.

The term “memorial” shall include a monument, marker or bench that meets the guidelines set forth.

The term “care” shall apply to the entire Cemetery provided by either a permanent care fund or by the Tye Cemetery Organization.

3.0         GENERAL RULES AND REGULATIONS

Tye Cemetery has a significant historical background in Taylor, County, Texas and we are proud of this background. While we have no full-time caretaker, the Tye Cemetery Organization attempts to maintain the cemetery property by mowing the grass and periodically trimming the trees and bushes.

To make our care of Tye Cemetery easier for us to handle and to contribute to the desirable overall appearance of the cemetery, the Tye Cemetery Organization adopts these rules and guidelines.

The following are the responsibility of the Tye Cemetery Organization.

a) All graves will be leveled after sufficient time has been allowed for proper settling of the grave.

b) The location of the grave must be marked before grave is dug.

c) Before a monument is set, notification must be made and location will be marked.

d) The Cemetery will give such care as it can, the care to consist of cutting the grass and general preservation of the grounds. The general care assumed by the Cemetery shall in no case mean maintenance, repair or replacement of any vase, basket, memorial, flowers, or other objects placed upon a monument.

e)  Any monuments, markers or benches that are broken, sinking and or otherwise damaged will have two (2) Directors from the Cemetery Board take a picture of the damaged items and send a picture and letter to the owner of the plot to be removed, repaired or replaced in fourteen (14) days. After that, the monument will be removed by said Board per Texas Health and Safety Guidelines.

f)  After burial services, all flower on gravesites will be removed in a timely matter.

4.0     RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR PLOT OWNERS

4.1 PLANTING ON GRAVES

a)   The planting of trees, bushes and flowers is not permitted. The planting of grass, such as St. Augustine, is permitted. However, Tye Cemetery Organization assumes no responsibility for the watering of planted grass. It will be mowed when and as the entire cemetery is mowed.

b)   The Cemetery reserves the right to remove all floral designs, flowers, shrubs, trees, lights, stakes or anything that penetrates the ground on top of the burial plot from the Cemetery.  Anything that penetrates the ground unless otherwise stated is disallowed by Texas Code and will be removed.

4.2  MEMORIAL WORK

a)  No memorials may be placed on any grave that is not fully paid

b)   Lot owners may erect proper memorial work on their respective lots that are either flat or standing provided they are installed on a reinforced concrete below-ground base foundation. Without a proper and substantial foundation, headstones over time become unstable and may topple over. Flat headstones will start sinking into the ground.

c)  No coping, curbing, fencing, hedging, borders or enclosures of any kind shall be allowed around any grave(s) and no walls of brick, cinders, tile, terra cotta, sand, cement, gravel or wood shall be allowed on any grave(s). Stakes, lights, pipes or anything that penetrates the ground on top of plot is disallowed by code and the Cemetery reserves the right to remove the same if so erected, planted or placed.

d)   Memorials of floral arrangements must be placed on the headstone only. No Glass containers of any kind are allowed.

e)   Granite, Composite, or other natural stone grade material Vases will be allowed to be placed next to monument and may be inserted into ground not to exceed depth of foundation height and must be at least 9” high and located next to or on monument base. Pipes, stakes and Tubing will not be allowed.

f)   Interested parties are permitted to attend gravesites by watering and trimming and the placing of flowers in receptacles. The Tye Cemetery Organization assumes no responsibility should flower receptacles and their contents be lost, turned over, broken or removed. Empty receptacles should be removed from gravesite except where they are a part of the headstone arrangement.

4.3  MONUMENTS, MARKERS AND BENCHES

a)   The monument or marker shall rest on a base. The overall size of the monument and base shall be defined as follows:

Double Monuments: 

24” to 48” wide and 8” to 12” deep and 13” to 36” high.

Single Monuments: 

12” to 24” wide and 8” to 12” deep and 13" to 36” high.

b)   The monument and base shall rest on a concrete foundation. The Foundation shall be 1” larger in length and width than the size of the base. The top of the concrete foundation shall be from 1” to 2” below the top of the ground to allow for adding cement grout to level the memorial base. Concrete foundations should be a minimum of 8” thick and have perpendicular sides and flat bottom. The foundation may not extend into the grave of another owner.

c) Benches shall be located at the foot of the plot and shall not exceed 48” in width.

4.4  LOT AND LOT OWNERS

a)   No grave will be sold in common ownership or joint ownership. Title must stand in one name.

b)   No grave shall be used for any other purpose than for the burial of the human dead.

c) The Cemetery disclaims all responsibility for loss or damage from causes beyond its reasonable control and especially from damage caused by the elements, an act of God, common enemy, thieves, vandals, strikers, explosions, insurrections, or order of any military or civil authority, whether the damage be direct or collateral other than as herein provided

d)   Grave owners are granted only the right of interment in their graves. The Cemetery reserves the right to refuse to permit the interment of anyone who was not at the time of death the owner of the grave or a relative of the owner by blood or marriage

e)   Deed to a plot may only be transferred with an official Texas Deed Transfer Form.

**Once purchased, we will not refund but ½ of money spent if you wish to convey the plot deed back to the cemetery organization. If you convey the deed to anyone else, a copy must be furnished to the Tye Cemetery Organization for our records. Deeds furnished to you may be filed at the Taylor County courthouse, but that is at the plot owner's discretion.

f)   No Burial Deed may be Resold.

4.5   INTERMENTS:

a)   No “interment” of a body will be made in a grave which is not fully paid

b)   Once a casket containing a body is within the confines of the Cemetery, no funeral director nor his embalmer, assistant, employee or agent shall be permitted to open the casket, or to touch the body without the consent of the next of kin or of the legal representative of the deceased, or of an order signed by a court of jurisdiction.

c) No interment of two or more bodies shall be made in one grave except in the case of a parent and infant or two infants buried in one casket. Special care must be taken to properly mark the grave with the individual’s names when two bodies such as a parent and infant or two infants are interred in the same grave.

***Note an inurnment (cremation) may be placed over an existing casket burial plot, but no internment (casket) may be placed over an existing inurnment.

d)   No interment of a body may be made unless the remains are contained in a casket

e)   Burial plots are 5’ wide and 11’ long. Graves for caskets will be dug 3’ wide by 8’ long unless in case of vaults, which will be dug 4’ wide by 10’ long.

4.6  INURNMENTS:

a)   No “inurnment” of a body will be made in a grave which is not fully paid.

b)   The dedicated section for cremation, Section C, can only have flat headstones the size of 1’ x 2’.

c)  The inurnment or burial of a set of cremated remains must be contained in a suitable container.

d)   The person bringing the cremated remains to the cemetery must give a “Certificate of Cremation” to the cemetery representative who is present.

e)   Once a container containing the cremated remains of a body is within the confines of the Cemetery, the container shall not be opened without the consent of the next of kin or of the legal representative of the deceased, or of an order signed by a court of competent jurisdiction.

f)  Inurnment plots are 3’ wide and 8’ long.