Grieving son frustrated over surprise burial fees in Valley Center

VALLEY CENTER, Kan. (KSNW) – A grieving son is expressing his frustration after learning he’d have to pay an extra fee to bury his father in Valley Center. This is after he learned the plot his father bought years ago would have a new fee because his father had moved out of town.

The mayor says this fee is built into a city ordinance. He says the problem is that the man’s son bought the plot in his name. Therefore, he had to pay $800 to transfer possession to his dad before he could bury him in the plot.

“If they lose a relative or somebody and they want to bury them in that plot, well, then that’s a ‘transfer of deeds fee’ cause that land is titled in their name,” said Valley Center Mayor Jet Truman.

Mayor Truman says the son already would have had to pay a fee to do that but had to pay more because his dad was not a Valley Center resident even though he used to live there, and it’s where his kids and grandkids were raised.

The son still lives in Valley Center. He says it was clear when he bought the plot that he planned to use it to bury his dad. He was never told to buy it in his dad’s name. He says he buried his mom in the neighboring plot 12 years ago with no issues.

“Transfer the deed over to my dad’s name. Well, he’s already passed away; I don’t know how that works. He can’t do any transactions. He’s already dead. But I don’t know how that’s supposed to work,” said Steven Hipps.

Hipps and his wife say they paid the fee. They couldn’t postpone the funeral, and family was coming in from out of state.

The couple says they’re grateful for the community support after people learned about the incident. The City is offering its condolences for the mixup.

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