9700-9703

HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE
SECTION 9700-9703




9700.  The owner of property may dedicate the property to pet
cemetery purposes by a notarized dedication recorded with the county
recorder of the county in which the property is situated on or after
January 1, 1985. The dedication document shall specify the length of
time for which the dedication is made. Dedicated property shall be
held and used exclusively for pet cemetery purposes, unless and until
the dedication is removed from all or any part of the property by an
order and decree of the superior court of the county in which the
property is situated, in a proceeding brought by the pet cemetery
owners for the purpose of removing the pet cemetery dedication and
upon notice of hearing and proof satisfactory to the court of both of
the following:
   (a) That no interments were made in, or that all interments have
been removed from, that portion of the property from which the
dedication is sought to be removed.
   (b) That the pet cemetery owners have received written
authorization from those persons whose pets have been buried in the
cemetery, or their heirs or assignees, to remove the dedication from
their respective plots or to disinter the pet for removal to another
plot location. The written authorization may or may not be given for
legal consideration.



9701.  All mortgages, deeds of trust, and other liens of any nature,
hereafter contracted, placed, or incurred upon property which has
been, and was at the time of the creation or placing of the lien,
dedicated as a pet cemetery, or upon property which is afterwards,
with the consent of the owner of any mortgage, trust deed, or lien,
dedicated to pet cemetery purposes, shall not affect or defeat the
dedication to pet cemetery purposes, but the mortgage, trust deed, or
other lien is subject and subordinate to that dedication and any and
all sales made upon foreclosure are subject and subordinate to the
dedication for pet cemetery purposes.



9702.  If a dedication is made pursuant to Section 9700, the pet
cemetery owners shall charge an endowment maintenance fee to persons
whose pets will be buried in the cemetery on and after the date of
this act, in addition to any burial fee. This maintenance fee shall
be charged only at the time of the burial and shall be not less than
twenty-five dollars ($25). Proceeds from these maintenance fees shall
be placed by the pet cemetery owners into an endowment care or
similar trust fund, the entirety of which shall be used for the
perpetual maintenance of the pet cemetery.



9703.  (a) A pet cemetery owner may dispose of the remains of any
pet which has been left for more than seven days at the pet cemetery
if arrangements have not been made with the pet cemetery owner for
the disposition of the pet.
   (b) A pet cemetery owner shall post a notice conspicuous to the
public on the cemetery site stating that the remains of any pet which
has been left for more than seven days at the pet cemetery may be
disposed of if arrangements have not been made with the cemetery
owner for the disposition of the pet.