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CEMETERIES, GHOSTS AND ZOMBIES

Presented by:Michael Holden

Vice President, Strategic Agency ManagerNorth American Title Insurance Company

October 18 – Michigan Land Title Association

Cemeteries, Ghosts and Zombies

This information is not a substitute for legal advice. It is for your reference only, and is not intended to represent the only approach to any particular issue. This information should not be construed as legal, financial or business advice, and users should consult legal counsel and subject-matter experts to be

sure that the policies adopted and implemented meet the requirements unique to your company

Cemeteries:Where Land Titles Come to

Die?

C e m e t e r i e s

C e m e t e r i e s , G h o s t s a n d Z o m b i e s

7th Century – Western Europe controlled by the Catholic Church- Burials in Church Yard, within or beneath churches- land use was controlled by the church

This practice continued in the new world16th and 17th Century – Burial in the colonies occurred by control of various religious organizations and burials occurred in Church yards

Trinity Church – New York ChurchYard

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19th Century – burial inside major metropolitan cities became a health hazard, movement to move remains from cities to “city controlled” municipal cemeteries on the outskirts of cities.

Cemeteries are a creation of state law, under Police Power.

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Rights of purchasers of Cemetery Plots:

• The Right to inter human remains in a certain plot of ground• The Right to maintain such plot of ground and erect a monument or grave

marker• An Easement for all heirs, descendants and friends to visit the grave site in

perpetuity

When a cemetery plot of ground is sold, the title to the land is held in trust by a cemetery association, municipality, or other duly authorized corporation.

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Can ground of a cemetery be re-used?

YES – but first the property must either have deteriorated so much that it is not evident it was ever used as a cemetery OR, all human remains must be carefully removed and transferred elsewhere for burial.

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Frankenmuth Township, Etal vs. Joseph Trogan, Jr and Sr.Circuit Court for the County of SaginawCivil Docket 07-065397-CZ-3

History:• Alvah Trumble owns property in 1800’s / bodies first buried there in 1869• Church operates on this parcel from 1870 to 1918• Conveys property for cemetery purposes to trustees of Olive Branch Cemetery 1901• Burials take place until 1954 (including Civil War Veteran William McIntyre)• 1964 deeds from others and “remaining trustee” recorded to Trogan Sr.• Trogan and his agents prevent any access to land under threat of physical harm.• Suit filed in 2007 with three counts:

• Determine interest in land• Injunctive relief (prevent Trogan from threatening people)• Appoint new trustees or Frankemuth Township as successor trustee of the Olive

Branch Cemetery Association

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Frankenmuth Township, Etal vs. Joseph Trogan, Jr and Sr.Circuit Court for the County of SaginawCivil Docket 07-065397-CZ-3

OUTCOME:

• Once a cemetery – always a cemetery• Cannot prevent the access to a cemetery by heirs and descendants.• Order to declare the owner of the property the trustees of the Olive Branch Cemetery

Association.• Order setting rules for appointment of new trustees (one from Frankenmuth

Township, one from the Bridgeport Historical Society, and a third agreeable to both)

See order for further reading…

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Ghosts:Do you have to disclose a property is haunted?

Stigmatized property in Michigan

G h o s t s


Stambovsky v. Ackley, 169 A.D.2d 254 (N.Y. App. Div. 1991), commonly known as the Ghostbusters ruling

Nyack New York PropertyKnown as the “Ackley house”

Sold in January 2016 for $1,770,000.00

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Facts of the case:• Between 1977 and 1989, Helen Ackley reported the existence of

ghosts on her property to the local newspaper, Reader’s Digest®, and when the home was included on a “ghost walking tour” in the town of Nyack, NY.

• She entered a contract for sale in late 1989 with New York City resident Jeffrey Stambovsky, who did not know the history of the house.

• Neither her real estate agent nor she notified Stambovsky of the existence of ghosts on the property.

• After he contracted to buy, but before the closing could take place, Mr. Stambovsky learned of the home’s history and sought to unwind the sale and recover his down payment.

G h o s t s


Holding in court:

The trial court in favor of the defendant (Ackley)

Plaintiff appealed…The appellate court reversed the trial court's decision regarding the rescission action, however, as it went on to note that "haunting" was not a condition that a buyer or potential buyer of real property can and should be able to ascertain upon reasonable inspection of the property

"having reported [the ghosts'] presence in both a national publication... and the local press... defendant is estopped to deny their existence and, as a matter of law, the house is haunted.“

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What is “Stigmatized Property”?

In real estate, stigmatized property is property which buyers or tenants may shun for reasons that are unrelated to its physical condition or features. These can include death of an occupant, murder, suicide, and belief that a house is haunted.

112 Ocean Drive

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• Criminal stigma: the property was used in the ongoing commission of a crime. For example, a house is stigmatized if it has been used as a brothel, chop shop, or drug den. In the case of drug dens, some drug addicts may inadvertently come to the address expecting to purchase illegal drugs. Most jurisdictions require full disclosure of this sort of element.

• Minimal stigma is known to, or taken seriously by, only a small select group, and such a stigma is unlikely to affect the ability to sell the property; in such a case, realtors may decide to disclose this information in a case-by-case basis.

• Murder/suicide stigma: Some jurisdictions in the United States require property sellers to reveal if murder or suicide occurred on the premises. California state law does if the event occurred within the previous three years. To protect sellers from lawsuits, Florida state law does not require any notification. In North Carolina, sellers and agents do not have to volunteer information about the death of previous occupants, but a direct question must be answered truthfully.

• Phenomena stigma: Many (but not all) jurisdictions require disclosure if a house is renowned for "haunting", ghost sightings, etc. This is in a separate category from public stigma, wherein the knowledge of "haunting" is restricted to a local market.

• Public stigma: when the stigma is known to a wide selection of the population and any reasonable person can be expected to know of it

G h o s t s


339.2518 Prohibited actions.Sec. 2518.An action shall not be brought against a real estate broker, an associate broker, or a real estate salesperson under the following circumstances:

(a) For failure to disclose to a purchaser or lessee of real property that a former occupant has or is suspected of having a disability. As used in this section, “disability” means handicap as that term is defined and interpreted under, and disclosure of which would constitute unlawful discrimination under, sections 804, 805, 806, or 817 of the fair housing act, title VIII of the civil rights act of 1968, Public Law 90‐284, 42 U.S.C. 3604, 3605, 3606, and 3617.

(b) For failure to disclose to a purchaser or lessee of real property that the real property was or was suspected to have been the site of a homicide, suicide, or other occurrence prohibited by law which had no material effect on the condition of the real property or improvements located on the real property.

(c) For failure to disclose any information from the compilation that is provided or made available under section 8(2) of the sex offenders registration act, 1994 PA 295, MCL 28.728.

Zombies! (houses that is!)what are Zombie Houses? What should title

people know about them?

Z o m b i e s ( h o u s e s t h a t i s ! )


Zombie Houses:

A right to ownership and possession of a home that remains with a person who believes he or she has lost the property as a result of foreclosure. A zombie house happens when a lender initiates foreclosure proceedings by issuing a notice of foreclosure and then unexpectedly dismisses the foreclosure.

If the person is unaware of the foreclosure dismissal, he or she will be left holding a zombie house. A lender may decide to dismiss the foreclosure for a variety of reasons, including a surplus of inventory, if the costs associated with a foreclosure cannot justify its costs or if the lender does not want to take possession of the home.

The homeowner still may be responsible for real estate taxes, liens for code violations and the un-foreclosed mortgage.



What do Zombie houses do to communities?



What do Zombie Titles do to communities?

• Lowers property values• Creates health/safety issues• Attracts crime• Reduces the ability of nearby landowners to sell properties

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

C e m e t e r i e s , G h o s t s a n d Z o m b i e s !

Cemeteries, Ghosts and Zombies

This information is not a substitute for legal advice. It is for your reference only, and is not intended to represent the only approach to any particular issue. This information should not be construed as legal, financial or business advice, and users should consult legal counsel and subject-matter experts to be

sure that the policies adopted and implemented meet the requirements unique to your company

THANK YOU

Michael Holden Vice President, Strategic Agency ManagerNorth American Title Insurance Company

[email protected]

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