The Presley Family Estates Cemetery is located on James Road in Nokomis, AL. Hosey Presley (photo below) established it in 1948 for the purpose of allowing his family to have a final resting place.

May 2004 – Sullivan Cemetery vs. Hosey Presley Heirs Estates

In 2004, the Sullivan Cemetery board took the Hosey Presley Heirs Estates to court over the dispute of the location of the Presley Estates Heirs c emetery . Their claim was that memb ers of the Pres ley cemetery were buried in Sullivan graveyard mistakenly.

Our ancestors indicated that the Hosey Presley Heirs Estates Cemetery was located in the lot that adjoined the Sullivan Cemetery and our deed read as such.  However, if you review the deed you will find that the text in the deed reflects the legal terms for the property in 1952.

As times have changed, technology has improved.  With this improvement, Escambia County also changed the way they recorded property deeds and plot maps around the late 1960's to early 1970's.  With the translation of our deed from 1952, a mistake was made in the plot records that recorded the Hosey Presley Heirs Estates Cemetery to the location within the current plot map.  This mistake is the fact that the Sullivan Cemetery based it’s case upon to gain control of the property that we know as the Presley Cemetery within the 2004 court case.

The Sullivan Cemetery vs. Hosey Presley Heirs Estates 2004 supporting court paperwork can be found here.

May 2004 - Case Outcome

So the Hosey Presely Heirs board members and an array of our relatives that live in the area went to the court hearing. The court transcript can be viewed here.

The outcome was a land exchange. Our board exchanged the property that we owned (keeping in mind that due to the mistake in the county tax accessors office (see above) the court systems believed the Hosey Presley Heirs Estates cemerty was located outside the fence area in the uncleared woods) for the current area where our family graves are located.

Our board members were told by the lawyer, Mr. Doerr (our lawyer) and Mr Rice (the Sullivan lawyer), that there would be no loss of land. You may review the legal description of the property that was awarded by the 2004 court case here. You would think this court ruling would update the plot map in the Escambia Court, however, as of Feb 2007, the plot map has not changed.

Why are the Sullivan's sueing a 2nd time?

After the 2004 court case, it was unclear where the property boundies were located. The Suillivan's surveryor was contacted by Ted Presely several times in an attempt to locate the property boundies, however, the suveryor would not meet with Ted to outline the property boundies.

Upon going to the graveyard on a clean up day in the Summer of 2006, the Presely family found that the chain-link fence had been moved an a lock place on the entrance gate, preventing access to the Presely cemetery. View photos here.

A vote was taken and the decision made to move the chain-link fence to allow access to our property. View photos here of fence after the Presely relatives moved the fence to allow access to our property. Everyone believed that the fence was in the wrong location based upon the land exchange of the 2004 court case.

The presents of the Presely relatives and moving of the fence prompted the Sullivan board to bring on the 2nd court case (currently on going).

So where is our property?

In Jan 2007, with the consent of Hosey Presely Heirs board, a survey of the 2004 legal description of the property was conducted. Whittle Land Surveying, Inc.(William R. Whittle Phone: (251) 867-8828) conducted the survey. As you can see from the survey the Hosey Presely Heirs Estates cemetery is land-locked, with the exception of a corner that touches James Road. View photos of survey flags here. It also should be noted that we did loss a portion of the property. Prior to the 2004 court case, the cemetery was .25 of an acer of property. Today the property size is .22 of an acer.

Current - 2007 Court Case

The Hosey Presely Heirs Estates hired an attoney to represent us in the 2007 court case, Mr. Brooks Gratt, a property lawyer located in Brewton AL. Upon meeting with Mr. Gratt and evaluating our rights, the Hosey Presely Heirs board had a motion filled to request an ingress/egress easement to our property. This would allow free access to our cemetery and prevent the driveway area from being used for other proposes. A request for an "up-to-date" deed has also been made.

How much does the 2007 Court Case Cost?

A estimate of $5000.00 was provided by Mr. Garrett. In Jan 2007, a check was present to Mr. Garrett in the sue of $2000.00 from the Hosey Presely Heirs Estates account and an additional $500.00 was donated by Tom and Brunette Henderson to retain Mr. Garrett's services to represent the us in this court case. There is still an outstanding sum of $2500.00 owed to Mr. Garrett for the court proceedings due within the next 6 months.

Jan 24, 2007 Letter to Family Members

To the right is the letter that was sent out to family members informing everyone of the current situation. Your help to meet the cost of retaining entrance to our cemetery is greatly needed.

Send doanations to:

Hosey Presely Heirs Cemetery, Inc

53337 Cemetery Road

Perdido, AL 36562