Illinois Statutes Chapter 765. Property § 835/12. Abandonment proceedings; appearance and answer; hearing; adjudication of abandonment

§ 12. In the event the owner, the claimant, or the heirs-at-law and next-of-kin or the specific legatees under the will of either the owner or claimant submits proof of ownership to the court or appears and answers the petition, the presumption of abandonment shall no longer exist and the court shall set the matter for hearing upon the petition and such answers thereto as may be filed.

In the event the defendant or defendants fails to appear and answer the petition, or in the event that upon the hearing the court determines from the evidence presented that there has been an abandonment of the cemetery interment right, entombment rights in a community mausoleum or lawn crypt section, or inurnment right in a community columbarium for 50 years or a continuous failure to pay the annual or periodic maintenance or care charges on such interment right, entombment rights in a community mausoleum or lawn crypt section, or inurnment right in a community columbarium, or part thereof, for a period of 30 years or more preceding the filing of the petition, then, in either such event, an order shall be entered adjudicating such interment right, entombment rights in a community mausoleum or lawn crypt section, or inurnment right in a community columbarium, to have been abandoned and adjudging the right or easement for burial therein to be subject to sale by the cemetery authority at the expiration of one year from the date of the entry of such order. Upon entry of an order adjudicating abandonment of a cemetery interment right, entombment rights in a community mausoleum or lawn crypt section, or inurnment right in a community columbarium, the court shall fix such sum as is deemed a reasonable fee for the services of petitioner's attorney.