It turns out term limits aren't just for politicians. Many cemetery plots sell for just 20 years or so. It's a perfectly legal practice that can nonetheless be a big surprise for the next generation.
As CBS 2's Kristyn Hartman reports, you think you mark someone's burial place forever, but there are spaces you can rent. Knowing that is important now, at a time when cemeteries are under scrutiny and people are questioning why they can't find loved ones they've buried -- or just what they bought way back when.
Melvina Adams looked in desk drawers, moved furniture and checked storage bags, looking for her brother's burial documents.
She wants to know if the headstone that marks where he's resting at an Alsip cemetery is permanent.
She had no idea it could be anything but, until area cemeteries came under scrutiny and the practice of term graves came to light.
"They do still happen these days," said Harvey Lapin, general counsel for the Illinois Cemetery And Funeral Home Association.
And they can be confusing to someone outside the funeral industry.
A term grave generally runs 20 to 25 years. After the term expires, the cemetery can place another casket above the one already there, and mark the space above it with a new headstone.
"Term burials are cheaper," Lapin said.
He believes Mount Glenwood, one of the cemeteries under investigation, has done term burials.
Concerned families there have been raising questions about term burials and their loved ones' gravesites recently.
In those cases, Lapin says, it's probable a term burial was agreed to, and the headstone no longer there.
Restvale, where Adams buried her brother, has done term burials, too. But she can't remember what his was. (This cemetery is literally across the street from my uncle's house.)
"You're very emotional during that time. You're going through a lot of turmoil," Adams said.
She said the choice between a term plot or perpetual never even came up; her funeral director made the arrangements.
Family members should receive a certificate of ownership or a deed for the space if it is a permanent burial. If it's term burial, a contract is signed at the time. Lapin says something like a deed certificate might have fallen through the cracks.
In that case, he advises going to the cemetery and checking records.
A cemetery cannot remove a casket from the ground without a family's consent.
Burr Oak Cemetery has never conducted term burials.
