The following is taken from an opinion of the Attorney General of the
Commonwealth of Kentucky (QAG 82-523; Oct. 1, 1982,
Greenburg, p. 3):
"If a property owner has a cemetery on his/her property which has
not been abandoned, as defined by KRS 381.755(5), the property owner does
not have any statutory right to request the removal or relocation of this
cemetery. Furthermore, the case law in this jurisdiction prohibits him/her
from doing anythmg winch interferes vnth the graves therem The case, Hutchison
v. Akin, Ky., 5 Ky. Op. 3 73 (18 71), states the rule which has been
followed consistently by Kentucky courts:
'As to the grave yard, it is very evident that appellant knew it
was on the land when he purchased, and being there the law without any
reservation, and inhibition in the deed, prohibits him from removing
the stones that mark the resting place of the dead buried there, or of
injuring and removing the enclosures around the grave yard and compels
him to permit the relatives of these buried there to exercise the
right of ingress and egress to and from said cemetery on proper
occasion and for proper purposes.
Id, at P. 3 74. Therefore, not only is the proper owner prohibited
from interfering in any way with the grave yard on his property, he is
compelled to provide ingress and egress for the relatives of persons
buried in that cemetery."
