What is Right of Interment?
Victorian public cemeteries are Crown land.
A cemetery trust may grant a person a Right of Interment (ROI) in a public cemetery under s 73 Part 6 of the Cemeteries and Crematoria Act 2003 (Vic) (the CCA), provided the required fee is paid. It is a right relating to a burial or interment place such as a particular grave, vault, mausoleum, niche wall or any other structure or plot used for the interment of human remains.
The person recorded by the cemetery trust as the holder of the ROI does not own the cemetery land. However, the ROI holder controls the particular grave or interment site under s 77 of the CCA. The ROI holder may decide whose remains may be interred at the site, establish or alter a memorial, and authorise the removal or relocation of interred remains. The cemetery trust’s approval must be obtained before those statutory powers are exercised.