What is a funeral concession?
A funeral concession is a location in a cemetery or a columbarium. It can be a grave or a vault, in case of burial. As part of a cremation, the ashes are placed in a funeral urn, buried in the family vault or in a columbarium. The purchase of a concession is made for a defined or perpetuity period. The process is carried out with the municipality. The latter remains the owner of the concession and the land. Also called founder, the buyer benefits from a right of use.
Note : It has been prohibited since 2008 to keep the ashes of a deceased.
What are the different types of funeral concessions?
There are several types of funeral concessions.
The collective concession
The collective concession is reserved for the beneficiaries mentioned (of the family or not) in the deed of concession.
Individual concession
The individual concession is intended for the founder or for a third party named.
The family concession
The family concession is reserved for the initial holder and the beneficiaries of his direct family.
The concession of field or cinéraire
For cinerary ballot boxes, there may be a question of a field concession. This implies sharing the surface granted with the coffins. As for the Cinquent Concession, the location is dedicated to the ballot boxes where the ashes of the deceased are collected.
What differences between funeral concession, falls and family vault of a cemetery?
The funeral concession is a right of use granted by the municipality to occupy a cemetery plot, in order to install a burial for a fixed period. It can accommodate a grave dug in the ground containing one or more coffins. The funeral concession can also take the form of a family vault, an underground masonry construction allowing to accommodate several coffins from the same family.
Thus, the concession is the legal framework, the tomb a simple form of burial and the family vault A collective and sustainable structure, subject to maintenance and transmission rules defined by law and municipal regulations.
Can we buy a concession during his lifetime in any municipal or municipal cemetery?
Whether it is a family, collective or individual concession, a person can acquire it during his lifetime. However, the choice of the municipality and the cemetery requires respecting one of the following conditions:
- domiciliation within the municipality;
- Death occurred in the town, regardless of the domiciliation of the deceased;
- registration on the electoral lists of the municipality, including for residents abroad;
- The possession of a family concession in the commune cemetery.
If the buyer is not in one of these situations, the town hall is entitled to refuse its request. Lack of places is one of the most common reasons to justify such a decision.
How long is a concession to the cemetery?
Article L.2223-14 of the Code of Local Authorities governs the rules specific to the duration of the concession. A municipality can present different solutions:
- A temporary concession for 5 to 15 years;
- a thirty -year concession for 30 years;
- a fiftieth concession for 50 years;
- A perpetual concession without defined periodicity.
The latter is less and less proposed, because the municipalities are advancing a lack of space in cemeteries.
How to acquire a funeral concession?
To reserve a funeral dealership or a niche in a columbarium, you must make a request for acquisition from the town hall. Each of them fixes its own conditions. It is therefore necessary to turn to the service responsible for the management of the cemetery to find out the waiting times, the price or the duration of the concession.
How much does a funeral concession cost?
The price of a concession depends on the municipality where its request is filed. The municipal council fixes the price. The location, volume, as well as the duration of the concession should be taken into account. Without forgetting the type of burial, like a funerary or cineraire monument (a tombstone and a stele covering the burial). For a 15 -year concession, it takes an average of 100 and 500 euros in rural areas and up to 1,000 euros in a large city. For a 30 -year dealership, prices amount from 300 to 1,500 euros, or even 3,000 euros in Paris.
What is the rate of renewal of a funeral concession in a cemetery?
On the due date, the concession holder (or his successors) has one to two years to carry out renewal procedures. The municipality can send a recall letter to recall the deadline for the concession. However, this is not an obligation. The cost is not based on the old price, but on the last revision of the prices in force at the time of the request. The estimation criteria remain similar to those for the acquisition of the funeral concession. Payment is the responsibility of the buyer or his beneficiaries, in the event of death.
What happens in the event of the abandonment of the concession by the family?
The location is reassigned
In the event that the beneficiaries do not wish to renew the concession, the municipality is entitled to reassign the location. The town hall then began a recovery procedure. This can be engaged in the following cases:
- A manifest state of abandonment (this requires the drafting of a report of observation of abandonment);
- an indecent aspect which reflects a lack of maintenance;
- An burial that has not taken place in the last ten years;
- A concession of over 30 years.
The municipality is responsible for the maintenance of the concession
Certain situations prevent the reassignment from the extinction of the concession. This is the case, for example, when the deceased has provided in his will or by a donation that the municipality is responsible for the maintenance of his burial. Another public establishment can be bound by the same responsibilities.
What happens to the coffins at the end of the concession?
At the expiration of the concession, the coffin is exhumed and the remains of the deceased are placed within a municipal ossuary or are the subject of a cremation. An burial in another location in a cemetery can also be envisaged. The procedures implemented depend on municipalities and local regulations.
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