West Virginia Code § 37-13A-1

Access of certain persons to cemeteries and graves located on private
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land; limiting liability of landowners.
(a) Any authorized person who wishes to visit a cemetery or grave site located on privately
owned land and for which no public ingress or egress is available, shall have the right to
reasonable ingress or egress for the purposes described in subsection (c) of this section after
providing the owner of the privately owned land with reasonable notice as deefined in
subsection (b) of this section.
(b) An authorized person intending to visit the cemetery or grave site for the purpose of
installing a monument or grave marker pursuant to subdivision (u2), subsection (c) of this
section, shall give reasonable notice to the property owner which is to include a description
of the monument or grave marker to be installed. As used int this article, "reasonable notice"
means written notice of the date and time the authorized person intends to visit the
cemetery or grave site delivered to the property owner at least 10 days prior to the date of
the intended visit.
(c) The right of access to cemeteries or grave ssites provided in subsection (a) of this section
shall be during reasonable hours and only for the purposes of:
(1) Visiting graves; g
(2) Maintaining the grave site or cemetery, including the installation of a monument or a
grave marker: Provided, That a property owner may deny access to the cemetery or grave
site because the owner objects to the installation of the type or style of the monument or
grave marker that has been described in the notice given pursuant to subsection (b) of this
section;
(3) Burying a Vdeceased person in a cemetery plot by those granted rights of burial to that
plot; and
(4) Conducting genealogy research.
(d)(1) The access route to the cemetery or grave site may be designated by the landowner if
no traditional access route is obviously visible by a view of the property. If no traditional
access route is obviously visible by a view of the property, the landowner is not required to
incur any expense in improving a designated access route.
(2) Unless the property owner has caused a traditional access route to the cemetery or grave
site to be unusable or unavailable, the property owner is not required to make any
improvements to their property to satisfy the requirement of providing reasonable ingress
and egress to a cemetery or burial site pursuant to this section.
(e) A property owner who is required to permit authorized persons reasonable ingress and
egress for the purpose of visiting a cemetery or grave site and who acts in good faith and in
a reasonable manner pursuant to this section is not liable for any personal injury or property
damage that occurs in connection with the access to the cemetery or grave site.
(f) Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit or modify the power or authority of a
court in any action of law or equity to order the disinterment and removal of the remains
from a cemetery and interment in a suitable location.
(g) A private property owner shall not be held liable for any damage to a cemetery on their
property when that damage is caused by individuals conducting familial or social visitations
to the cemetery: Provided, That this limitation on liability shall not apply if the person
conducting the visitation is an agent of the private property owner. Individuals conducting
familial and social visitations to a cemetery contemplated by thisu section are liable for any
damage they cause.

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