Cemetary contract binding?

[TimJ]

My 71 year old mother signed a contract with a local cemetary 6 years ago which was to guarantee a plot with a stone, along with an urn for her ashes. The monies were paid in full. The other day she had a knock on the door from the new owners of the cemetary. They told my mother that she owes them two (or three) thousand dollars. My mother explained she was already paid in full and has a sales contract. They then told her that the cost for hole digging went up an additional $400 and that the law now requires urns to be encased in a vault, which she must pay for. If she doesn't pay, she will lose her plot. They told her the sales contract only applied to the previous owners. She does not know what to do. She did contact a local funeral home to verify this new vault law. The funeral home told her that it was not an IL state or local law to encase urns in a vault, but that it was probably just the policy of that particular cemetary. Can anyone set us straight here? Are vaults now required by law in this locale?

 

[dee_dub]

The contract is binding on the new owners: when they purchased the business, they purchased it subject to its existing obligations.

Whether the contract can be modified is another question, and depends on the wording of the contract. Without knowing what it says, anything anyone says here is speculation. I would speculate that the $400 for higher hole-digging costs was contemplated in the original purchase price and should not be allowed, but that a cost for compliance with a new statutory requirement was not included in the original price and might be legit.

I'd ask the new owners to show you this statutory requirement and the clause in the contract allowing them to increase the price. If they can't, tell them you expect them to honour the original agreement.