Wisconsin Statutes & Annotations
Chapter 157 - Disposition of human remains.
157.12 - Mausoleums.

157.12 Mausoleums.
(2) Construction of mausoleums.
(a) Any person who constructs a mausoleum or converts a building or other structure to a mausoleum shall comply with the rules of the cemetery board and shall receive the cemetery board's approval in writing of the plans and specifications prior to construction or conversion. No person may modify plans or specifications that have been approved under this paragraph without approval in writing from the cemetery board, unless such modifications are cosmetic in nature. The cemetery board shall promulgate rules providing reasonable requirements governing the location, material, and construction of a mausoleum, in accordance with the requirements in par. (d). Any municipality may enact ordinances governing mausoleums at least as stringent as this section.
(b) The cemetery board shall supervise construction of any public mausoleum and conversion of any building to a public mausoleum. Within 30 days after receiving written notice from the cemetery authority that the construction or conversion has been completed, the cemetery board shall inspect the public mausoleum and provide the cemetery authority with a written certification as to whether the construction or conversion complies with approved plans. If the cemetery board determines that, except for certain minor defects, the construction or conversion complies with the approved plans, the cemetery board may provide the cemetery authority with a written temporary certification of compliance that is contingent on the correction of those minor defects. A temporary certification is valid for a period designated by the cemetery board, not to exceed 6 months. No person may sell a mausoleum space, except an undeveloped space that is sold in accordance with s. 440.92, or bury human remains in a public mausoleum unless a care fund has been established for the mausoleum under sub. (3) and the cemetery board has provided the cemetery authority with a certification or a temporary certification under this paragraph. If a cemetery authority that has been provided with a temporary certification notifies the cemetery board in writing before the date on which the temporary certification expires that the defects in the construction or conversion of the public mausoleum have been corrected, the cemetery board shall, within 30 days after receiving the notice, reinspect the public mausoleum and provide the cemetery authority with a written certification as to whether the construction or conversion complies with the approved plans. If a cemetery authority that has been provided with a temporary certification does not receive a written certification from the cemetery board before the date on which the temporary certification expires that the construction or conversion complies with the approved plans, then, beginning on the date on which the certification expires, no person may sell a mausoleum space, except an undeveloped space that is sold in accordance with s. 440.92, or bury human remains in the public mausoleum until the defects are corrected and the cemetery board subsequently inspects the public mausoleum and provides the cemetery authority with a certification that the construction or conversion complies with the approved plans. The cemetery board may charge a reasonable fee to the cemetery authority for each inspection and certification provided under this paragraph if the inspection and certification are provided within the applicable 30-day period prescribed under this paragraph.
(bm) If a municipality in which a mausoleum is located requires the owner or operator of the mausoleum to obtain from the municipality a permit for the use or occupancy of the mausoleum, the municipality shall issue that permit to the owner or operator if the owner or operator has been provided with a certification or temporary certification for the mausoleum under par. (b). The permit shall be valid for a period equal to or longer than the period for which the certification or temporary certification under par. (b) is valid.
(c)
1. Except as provided in subd. 2., no person may establish or use a public mausoleum unless the mausoleum is located inside a cemetery of 20 acres or more that has been in existence for 10 years or more.
2. A person may establish or use a public mausoleum in a cemetery consisting of less than 20 acres in a municipality that has enacted an ordinance under s. 157.129 (2) if the cemetery meets the minimum acreage requirement specified in that ordinance.
(d) A mausoleum shall be constructed to last as long as possible, taking into consideration the technology and economics applicable to mausoleum construction at the time of construction.
(3) Care fund for mausoleums.
(a) Any person who operates a public mausoleum shall establish a care fund as follows:
1. If the mausoleum has been in existence since June 15, 1933, and is covered by the care fund of the cemetery in which the mausoleum is located, the cemetery shall deposit at least 15 percent of each payment of principal received from the sale of a mausoleum space into the care fund, until the care fund equals 10 percent of the cost of constructing the mausoleum.
2. Except as provided in subd. 1., the operator of the mausoleum shall deposit at least 25 percent of each payment of principal received from the sale of a mausoleum space into the care fund, until the care fund equals 25 percent of the cost of constructing the mausoleum.
3. The operator shall make deposits required under subds. 1. and 2. within 30 days after the last day of the month in which the payment is received. The municipality in which the mausoleum is located may, by ordinance, require a larger fund, but only if the cemetery board notifies the municipality in writing that the cemetery board approves of the requirement. The cemetery board may promulgate rules establishing uniform standards for approvals under this subdivision.
(b) The cemetery's treasurer is the custodian of the fund. The treasurer shall file with the cemetery, at the cemetery's expense, a bond with sureties approved by the cemetery board to indemnify the cemetery against loss if the treasurer fails to maintain the fund. No indemnity is required if the terms of sale of a mausoleum space require the purchaser to pay directly to a trust company in the state, designated by the cemetery as custodian of the fund. The fund shall be invested as provided in s. 157.19. Income from investment may be used only to maintain the mausoleum, except that if the amount of income exceeds the amount necessary to properly maintain the mausoleum the excess amount may be used to maintain any portion of the cemetery.
History: 1971 c. 41 s. 12; 1971 c. 164; 1977 c. 449; 1979 c. 221; 1981 c. 20; 1989 a. 307; 1991 a. 269; 1995 a. 27 ss. 4402, 9116 (5); 1999 a. 150 s. 672; 2011 a. 32, 146; 2015 a. 237.