157.07 Platting.
(1) A cemetery authority shall cause to be surveyed and platted by a professional land surveyor those portions of the lands that are from time to time required for burial, into cemetery lots, drives, and walks, and record a plat or map of the land in the office of the register of deeds.
(2) The location of the lands shall be indicated on the plat or map by bearing and distance from a boundary line of a government lot, quarter section, recorded private claim, or federal reservation in which the subdivision is located. The monumentation at the ends of the boundary line shall be described and the bearing and distance between them shown, and the plat or map shall show a small scale drawing of the section or government subdivision of the section in which the cemetery plat is situated, with the cemetery plat indicated. The plat or map shall include the certificate of the professional land surveyor containing the name of the cemetery authority, the date of the survey, the professional land surveyor's stamp or seal and signature, and the professional land surveyor's statement that the survey is true and correct to the professional land surveyor's best knowledge and belief.
(3) The plat or map shall be made on a durable white media that is 22 inches wide by 30 inches long, or on any other media that is acceptable to the register of deeds, with a permanent nonfading black image. Seals or signatures that are reproduced on images that comply with this subsection have the force and effect of original seals and signatures. When more than one sheet is used for any one plat or map, they shall be numbered consecutively and each sheet shall contain a notation showing the whole number of sheets in the plat, and its relation to the other sheets. The sheets may be provided by the county through the register of deeds on terms determined by the county board. The professional land surveyor shall leave a binding margin of one inch on all sides.
(4) The cemetery authority shall cause the plat or map to be recorded. For failure to do so, the plat shall be void, and no sale of a cemetery lot or mausoleum space may be made before the plat is recorded.
(5) The cemetery authority may vacate or replat any portion of its cemetery upon the filing of a petition with the circuit court describing the portion and setting forth the facts and reasons therefor. The court shall fix a time for hearing and direct publication of a class 3 notice, under ch. 985, and the court shall order a copy of the notice to be mailed to at least one interested person, as to each separate parcel involved, whose post-office address is known or can be ascertained with reasonable diligence, at least 20 days before such hearing. If the court finds that the proposed vacating or replatting is for the best interest of the cemetery authority and that the rights of none to whom cemetery lots have been conveyed will be injured, it shall enter an order reciting the jurisdictional facts and its findings and authorizing the vacating or replatting of the lands of the cemetery. The order shall be effective when recorded by the register of deeds.
(6) This section does not apply to a religious association or a cemetery authority of a cemetery that is affiliated with a religious association.
History: 1983 a. 473; 1989 a. 307 ss. 29, 30, 34; 1993 a. 490; 1995 a. 110; 2005 a. 41; 2013 a. 358; 2015 a. 237.