12-521. Grounds; abandonment; sale; disposition; procedure; petition; contents; requirements.

When any cemetery association in this state owning or having title to any real estate therein which has been used or set apart as a cemetery or a place of burial for the dead, or intended for such use, shall for any reason deem it prudent and for the best interests of the association and the public that the same shall not be used for such purposes, but that the use of the same as a burial place for the dead should be prohibited and the said real estate, or such portion thereof as shall not be actually occupied by graves of persons buried therein by permission or authority of said association, be sold or otherwise disposed of and the proceeds of any sale turned over to and transferred to some other like association having a place of burial for the dead in actual use in the vicinity of the one so desired to be prohibited from future use, or the proceeds set apart to be used for the establishment of a new cemetery in the vicinity of the one so desired to be prohibited from future use, such cemetery association, or the majority of its members or a majority of its board of trustees, may, by resolution for that purpose, direct its president or some other chief officer of said association, to file a petition in the district court of the county in which said real estate is situated, in the name of said association, setting forth (1) the reasons why said real estate, or any part thereof, should be discontinued from use as a cemetery or prohibited from future use as a cemetery or as a place of burial for the dead, (2) the desire of such association to sell or otherwise dispose of such portion of its said real estate as shall not be actually occupied by graves of persons buried therein by permission or authority of such association, (3) its desire as to what disposition shall be made of the proceeds of any such sale, and what disposition of or provisions for the future care and management of such portion of any such real estate as shall be actually occupied by graves of persons buried therein by permission or authority of such association, if any, it desires made, and (4) a prayer for an order or decree of said court that the said cemetery association be allowed to discontinue or prohibit the use of said real estate as a place of burial for the dead, for license to sell or otherwise dispose of any portion of such real estate not actually occupied by graves of persons buried therein by permission or authority of such association, to dispose of the proceeds of any such sale, and of any other funds and property of such association, in the manner desired by such association, to wind up the affairs and business of such association, and to dissolve the same if desired, and such other and further relief in the premises as to the court shall seem just and proper. If the trustees deem it prudent and for the best interests of the association that all or a portion of its real estate be given to another nonprofit entity organized solely for educational, charitable, historic, conservation, or religious purposes or to the State of Nebraska rather than being sold, the district court may authorize such conveyance after such compliance with the provisions of sections 12-522 to 12-529 as the court shall deem applicable.

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