What do we do when a grave or an old family cemetery is found on HOA common area?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised October 19, 2026

What an HOA board does when graves or an old family cemetery turn up on common area: stop work, call the right office, file notice, and plan access and upkeep.

Part of the HOA board handbook: vendors, projects and upkeep.

The short answer

Stop whatever work found it, keep people away from the spot, and make two calls the same day. If anything that could be human bone is exposed, call local law enforcement and, in Florida and Colorado, the medical examiner or coroner, because both states put that duty on whoever makes the discovery. Then call the association's attorney and its insurance agent before anyone digs another shovelful. After that, the job changes from emergency to stewardship. In Texas, someone has to file a notice with the county clerk within 10 days. In every state, descendants may have a right to visit, and the board will need a plan for fencing, mowing and records. Moving graves to get them out of the way of a project is possible in some cases, but it is slow, expensive and needs consent or a court or state official's approval. Rules differ by state, and the community's plat, deeds and declaration can add their own. This guide is general education, not legal advice. Each step below names the statute so your attorney can confirm it applies.

If bones turn up, stop and call

Discoveries usually happen during a project, such as a new trail or an irrigation main. Tell the contractor to stop, back the equipment off, and leave the soil where it is. Mark a wide perimeter with stakes and tape. Take photos from a distance and write down who found it, when and where. Do not let anyone pick up, bag or rebury anything. Florida: when an unmarked human burial is found outside an authorized archaeological dig, section 872.05(4) says all activity that may disturb it must stop immediately and the district medical examiner must be notified. Work may resume only when the medical examiner or the State Archaeologist authorizes it. The medical examiner has 30 days to decide whether to keep the case or, for a burial 75 years old or more, refer it to the State Archaeologist. Willfully disturbing an unmarked burial is a third-degree felony under 872.05(10). Colorado: section 24-80-1302(1) requires anyone who finds suspected human skeletal remains to notify the county coroner or medical examiner and the sheriff or police chief immediately. The coroner must hold an on-site inquiry within 48 hours. If the remains are human but of no forensic value, the state archaeologist takes over and recommends how to secure the site. Knowingly disturbing an unmarked burial is a class 1 misdemeanor under 24-80-1305. Texas: call the local police or sheriff for any exposed remains. The cemetery notice rules in the next section apply once it is clear you are dealing with old graves and not a crime scene.

Put the cemetery on the record

Many small family plots were never platted. Once the board knows about one, make sure the county knows too. Texas: Health and Safety Code section 711.011 says a person who discovers an unknown or abandoned cemetery must file notice with the county clerk within 10 days and, at the same time, mail a copy to the landowner of record on the appraisal district rolls. The notice includes a legal description of the land, the approximate location of the cemetery and the evidence found. The clerk may not charge a filing fee, records the notice in the deed records and sends a copy to the Texas Historical Commission. If the evidence is thinner, such as a depression and a single field stone with no confirmed graves, section 711.0111 has the finder file with the Commission instead, and the landowner gets 30 days to respond. The Commission publishes a sample notice form on its cemetery discovery page. When the HOA owns the land, it is both the finder and the landowner, so the board files. Have the attorney or surveyor prepare the legal description. Florida and Colorado have no matching county filing for a known family cemetery, but the same habit helps: record the location with a survey and put it in the association's permanent records. Our guide on hiring a land surveyor to mark HOA common area boundaries covers what to ask the surveyor for.

Who can visit, and on what terms

Expect a call from a descendant sooner or later, often after a family historian finds the plot on a genealogy site. Both Texas and Florida give them a right to come. Texas section 711.041 gives anyone who wants to visit a cemetery with no public access a right to reasonable ingress and egress for that purpose. The landowner may designate the route and reasonable hours. Florida section 704.08 gives relatives and descendants of anyone buried there an easement to visit at reasonable times and in a reasonable manner, and the owner may designate the route. Florida adds a twist: if the cemetery is abandoned or not maintained, descendants may ask the owner to maintain it, and if the owner refuses, they may maintain it themselves. Set the route and hours before the first request. A short board resolution works: 'Visitors to the family cemetery on Tract C may enter from the Oak Lane trailhead and follow the marked path. Visiting hours are dawn to dusk. Visitors are asked to email the board 48 hours ahead so we can open the gate.' Ask, do not require, advance notice in Texas unless your attorney says the statute allows it.

Why moving the graves is usually the wrong plan

Boards sometimes hope to relocate a plot so a planned amenity can go ahead. Price that hope honestly before the board falls in love with the site plan. Texas section 711.004 lets remains be moved only with written consents from the cemetery organization, the plot owner and the next of kin in a set order of priority, or with permission from the county court after notice. Section 711.035 says land dedicated as a cemetery is used only for cemetery purposes until a court order removes the dedication. In Florida, section 872.02 makes it a second-degree felony to willfully disturb the contents of a grave and a third-degree felony to damage a headstone or the fence around it; its relocation exceptions are written for licensed cemeteries and people acting under state authority, not homeowners associations. In Colorado, a qualified archaeologist examines unmarked remains under 24-80-1302(3) to judge whether they are more than 100 years old, and Native American remains are removed by a permitted archaeologist unless the landowner, the state archaeologist and the chair of the Commission of Indian Affairs all agree to leave them in place. In practice, redesigning around the graves almost always costs less. Move the path, shift the pavilion, reroute the irrigation line. Ask the engineer to show a buffer around the plot on the drawings so no future contractor trenches through the plot by mistake.

Upkeep, insurance and records

Once the cemetery is on the map, someone has to care for it. Build it into the landscape contract as its own line: hand trimming inside the plot, no mowers or string trimmers against old stones, no herbicide on the markers, and a note to call the board before removing any tree inside the fence. Never clean old stones with bleach or a pressure washer. A simple post-and-rail or black metal fence keeps mowers and children off the graves and shows visitors where the plot ends. Budget for it in the reserve study as a long-life component. Call the insurance agent. Ask whether the general liability policy covers visitors on a designated route, and whether the association's property schedule should list the fence. Keep a cemetery file in the permanent records: the survey, the county filing, photos of each marker, any family contacts, and the board resolutions on access and maintenance. Mention the plot in the community map and the new-owner packet so it never gets forgotten again.

A sample timeline and a motion

Day 0: work stops, perimeter goes up, photos taken, police called. Florida: district medical examiner notified. Colorado: county coroner and sheriff notified. Day 1: board president calls the attorney and the insurance agent; contractor told in writing that the work area is closed. Day 2: Colorado coroner's on-site inquiry deadline (48 hours from notice). Day 10: Texas notice filed with the county clerk, if the HOA discovered an unknown or abandoned cemetery. Days 10 to 30: surveyor locates and maps the plot; engineer redesigns the project around a buffer. Day 30: Florida medical examiner's deadline to keep the case or refer it. Next board meeting: adopt the access and maintenance resolution and the budget line. Sample motion: 'I move that the board (1) close the area around the burial site found on [Tract] until the responsible officials release it, (2) direct the president to file any notice required by state law, (3) approve up to $[amount] for a survey, fence and redesign of the [project] around a buffer, and (4) adopt the visitor route and hours in the attached resolution.'

Mistakes that turn a discovery into a problem

Letting the contractor finish the trench. Digging on after the discovery is knowing disturbance, which is the conduct these statutes punish. Posting photos before the officials have looked. Let the authorities and the attorney lead. Treating it as a secret. A plot left off the map gets bulldozed by the next board's contractor. Refusing a descendant at the gate. Texas and Florida both give them a right to visit. Set terms instead. Taking souvenirs or moving a stone to a nicer spot. A headstone out of place can make a grave impossible to find, and in Florida willfully damaging one is a felony. Assuming the developer took care of it. Check the plat, the title work and the deed to the common area. If the land was never deeded to the association, our guide on getting HOA common area deeded from the developer explains how to find and fix that first, because the record owner is the one the county will notify.

Sources

These guides are general education for HOA boards and residents, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Rules vary by state and by your community's governing documents - check with a professional for your situation.

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