thinking about how, in a strange irony, it's now a thousand times harder to get a person's physical signature on a physical document than it was 100 or even 20 years ago because everyone is so used to signing things instantly and virtually that they get mad if you even mention an actual paper form
"why do you need my signature??" to prove that it was actually you who did all these things "im giving you verbal permission!" thank you! that will not hold up if there is any kind of problem in the future "how am i supposed to mail it back?? i can't wait that long and i don't even own stamps!!!"
i can't tell you what a mindfuck it is to be able to go through 200 years of documents and see exactly how things were done then compared to how they're done now
people bought these big family lots assuming that their entire bloodline would be buried there bc even the very concept of "family growing up and moving away" was so foreign that they didn't even consider it and now there's only like 3 people in there when they could put 20 more
it used to be a huge deal to own the family grave plot and get to decide who is allowed to be buried there. (it still is but not to the same extent.) there's files where the patriarch of the family or w/e was such a miserable asshole that everyone told them to fuck off and now they're in there alone
you can tell when they were really getting off on it too bc there will be a dozen letters saying "i have changed my list of people i will allow to be buried there, again" and you can tell it's when their son pissed them off or something and got kicked out as punishment
the funny thing is per massachusetts law, once the original owner dies, burial rights in the lot pass down to their descendants and are irrevocable so guess what? unless you made specific instructions governing the rest of the lot forever and ever, your family can still go in there lmao
But Cait, don't all the descendants have to sign off before any single descendent can use a plot?
Cuz goodness that happened with one of my family members and omg disaster
we only really need one UNLESS other family members object but also part of signing off is you saying "i prommy there is no one who will object to this" so if you lied to us that's on you
How does it work when this happens? does the grave plot stay the family's forever or is there some kind of limitation on how long you get to keep all the graves in the plot to yourself unused?
I'm not sure what the full detail was in my situation because someone else was dealing with that part but we needed like 7 notarized signatures and a lawyer to confirm everything and nobody would sign until someone died & needed it because the signer might need it for themself first.
some of these families are so old and massive now that getting EVERY heir would be an insurmountable task. for some things (like wanting to remove and replace the original monument) we do require signatures from everyone or at least a majority of heirs
I totally thought I needed to sign for my family's plot a couple years ago because a cousin that passed was going to be buried there - it turned out after some investigation it wasn't necessary anymore thankfully but myself and my siblings were all pretty much "send us whatever we'll sign of course"
I find it kind of hopeful and reassuring to know that people have always been exactly the same kind of petty assholes who shoot themselves in the foot in personal relationships
