Riga City Funeral Service
Information service 24/7
The annual inspection of burial plots runs from 1 April to 1 November, and less than two weeks of the season remain. This is the last moment to put a plot in order if it has not been reached this year — and also the time when families find a warning marker at the plot or receive an act by post.
If that has happened to you, the main thing first: there is reason to act, but none to be alarmed. Call and we will say what to do: +371 2208 4540
A marker at the plot and an act are not a decision to withdraw rights. They are notice that the plot has been found neglected this year. Rights to a plot can be terminated only if it has not been put in order for three consecutive years — one missed season takes nothing away. How the inspection itself proceeds, and how the sequence of acts builds up, is described in the news item on neglected graves.
There is a second ground that families learn of too late: rights may also be terminated if for three years after the plot holder's death nobody has applied to take over the rights. This has nothing to do with tending — a plot may be impeccably kept and yet formally have no holder.
| Step | What it involves |
|---|---|
| 1. Establish what the warning concerns | Tending, or the fact that the holder has died and the rights were never taken over. The remedies differ |
| 2. Tend the plot | Where tending is the issue, this can be done yourself or ordered. The plot then no longer meets the signs of neglect |
| 3. Take over the holder's rights | By application to the cemetery keeper. In a dispute, precedence goes to whoever filed first |
| 4. Inform the keeper | Say that the plot has been put in order so that it is recorded, rather than relying on it being noticed |
| 5. Plan next season | So the question does not return: a spring clean-up, two or three maintenance visits in summer, tidying in autumn |
The practical limit is opening hours rather than the season. For visitors the cemeteries are currently open from 7.00 to 21.00, and from 1 November from 8.00 to 18.00, in both periods with a break from 12.00 to 12.30. Professional work and vehicle access are allowed only during the working hours of the cemetery administration, so they are planned for a weekday.
The keeper can be spoken to from Tuesday to Saturday, 8.30 to 16.00, closed on Mondays. If you intend to apply to take over the rights, bring an identity document and details of the person buried.
This is the commonest reason a plot goes untended: the family lives in another city or another country. Tending can be ordered separately — we travel out, put the plot in order and confirm that the work is done. It is enough to name the cemetery and roughly where the plot is; if you do not know the exact location, the name of the person buried and the year of burial will do. If the plot has stood unattended for a long time the first visit usually needs to be a larger job, and we say so at once.
If the family faces not only tending but the funeral arrangement, we take that on in full.
