Brad: It's always best to get permission, especially, as another post mentioned, if you disturb the ground to locate fragments of a buried stone, you're actually breaking Indiana law. At one time there was a sample permission slip floating around...and might actually be on the web page. As far as the personal property goes, that usually pertains to the actual person that purchased the stone. Many people don't realize that their homeowner's insurance will cover damage to a tombstone, but usually only one they purchased. As far as it covering a stone other than their own, no. Based on this, who has the right to authorize repairs to an ancestor's grave stone? Probably no one has more say than another relative...so it's first come, first served. I'm no attorney, so this is just my opinion and not based on any case law...and it's doubtful one exists. Kyle