ARTICLE 12. Removal by Counties [8000. - 8005.]

Cal. Health and Safety Code - HSC 12.
in effect

Cal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 8000. Section 8000.

If it appears to the board of supervisors of any county owning a county cemetery that: (a) It is necessary that the property be used for other purposes, and (b) The cemetery is located on a portion of the site of an existing county institution maintained for the relief of the indigent, sick and afflicted, and (c) Adequate facilities are otherwise provided for by the county for the burial of the indigent dead; the board may, by following the procedure contained in this article, order the disinterment and removal of all humam remains interred in such cemetery.

Cal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 8001. Section 8001.

Any resolution or declaration for abandonment adopted and made under the provisions of this article shall specify and declare that at any time after the expiration of 60 days after the first publication of the notice of declaration of intended abandonment and removal, the human remains then remaining in the cemetery will be removed by the county owning the cemetery. Notice of the declaration of intended abandonment of the cemetery and proposed removal of the human remains interred therein shall be given to all persons interested therein by publication in the newspaper of general circulation published in the county determined by the board of supervisors most likely to give notice to the parties concerned. Publication shall be made once a week for four consecutive times. The notice shall be entitled “Notice of Declaration of Abandonment of Lands for Cemetery Purposes and of Intention to Remove Human Bodies Interred Therein,” and shall specify a date not less than 60 days after the first publication of the notice when the county controlling the cemetery lands and causing the notice to be published will proceed to remove the human remains then remaining in such cemetery. Notice shall also be mailed to any known living heir-at-law of any person whose remains are interred in the cemetery when the address of the heir is known.

Cal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 8002. Section 8002.

At any time before the date fixed for the removal of the remains by the county owning or controlling such cemetery land, any relative or friend of any person whose remains are interred in the cemetery may voluntarily remove the remains and reinter the same as he may desire.

Cal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 8003. Section 8003.

After the publication and mailing of the notice mentioned in Section 8001 of this code and after the expiration of the 60 days specified in the notice, the county shall have the power to cause the removal of all human remains interred in the cemetery about to be abandoned and to cause the reinterment in other cemeteries of the county in which burials are permitted, without further notice to any persons claiming an interest in the remains therein interred.

Cal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 8004. Section 8004.

Whenever the remains of any person shall be removed from any abandoned cemetery by the county owning such abandoned cemetery, such remains shall be transported and reinterred in a separate and suitable receptacle. After the removal and reinterment of human bodies disinterred from an abandoned cemetery, the county owning or controlling the abandoned cemetery lands shall cause to be erected upon or imbedded in any lot or plot wherein such body is reinterred a suitable permanent marker identifying the remains with as much particularity as is available to such county and shall prepare a complete record of the name of each person, where known, and the lot or plot where the body is reinterred and such record shall be kept in the office of the board of supervisors of the county making such removals and reinterments and shall at all times be open to the relatives and friends of those so reinterred.
Source: CA Legislative Counsel Bulk DataURL: https://downloads.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/pubinfo_2025.zipFetched: 6/27/2026

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