§ 553.40. Assignment of gravesites or niches.
330 words·~2 min read·
/us/cfr/t32/s§ 553.40·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
(a)All eligible persons will be assigned gravesites or niches without discrimination as to race, color, sex, religion, age, or national origin and without preference to military grade or rank.
(b)Army Cemeteries will enforce a one-gravesite-per-family policy. Once the initial interment or inurnment is made in a gravesite or niche, each additional interment or inurnment of eligible persons must be made in the same gravesite or niche, except as noted in paragraph
(f)of this section. This includes multiple primarily eligible persons if they are married to each other.
(c)A gravesite reservation will be honored if the gravesite was properly reserved before May 1, 1975.
(d)The commander responsible for an Army Cemetery may cancel a gravesite reservation:
(1)Upon determination that a derivatively eligible spouse has remarried;
(2)Upon determination that the remains of the person having the gravesite reservation have been buried elsewhere or otherwise disposed of;
(3)Upon determination that the person having the gravesite reservation desires to or will be interred in the same gravesite with the predeceased, and doing so is feasible; or
(4)Upon determination that the person having the gravesite reservation would be 120 years of age and there is no record of correspondence with the person having the gravesite reservation within the last two decades.
(e)In cases of reservations where more than one gravesite was reserved (on the basis of the veteran's eligibility at the time the reservation was made), the gravesite reservations will be honored only if the decedents continue to meet the eligibility criteria for interment in Army Post Cemeteries that is in effect at the time of need, and the reserved gravesite is available.
(f)Gravesites or niches shall not be reserved or assigned prior to the time of need.
(g)The selection of gravesites and niches is the responsibility of the Cemetery Responsible Official. The selection of specific gravesites or niches by the family or other representatives of the deceased at any time is prohibited.