Melrose Abbey Owner Bankrupt : Finances: The landmark cemetery along the Santa Ana Freeway is listed as a $5-million asset in the Chapter 11 filing.

Abbey Funeral Center Inc., which owns the landmark Melrose Abbey Mausoleum and Angel’s Lawn Memorial Park in Anaheim, has filed for bankruptcy protection.

Abbey filed a Chapter 11 reorganization petition in federal Bankruptcy Court in Santa Ana last Wednesday. The company is affiliated with Westamerica Inc. of Irvine, which filed its own Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November. It listed total assets of $8.4 million and total liabilities of $2.4 million.

Abbey, also based in Irvine, listed its 19-acre cemetery at 2303 Manchester Ave. as a $5-million asset. The cemetery is a familiar sight from the Santa Ana Freeway, just southeast of Disneyland. The mortuary is a complex of buildings designed to look like a medieval French monastery.

There are three secured claims against the property totaling more than $2.3 million. The company’s major secured creditors are Unity Savings & Loan of Beverly Hills, with a $1.7-million debt; Imperial Thrift & Loan in Buena Park with $281,000 owed and Westamerica Corp, out nearly $250,000.

The company owes $42,800 in federal income taxes and social security payments; $4,000 in state unemployment tax and $8,000 in state sales tax, according to its filing. Abbey was placed in receivership in February, 1991.

The company lists accounts payable of more than $500,000 for 100 “death services” contracts.

Neither company President Robert Murton nor lawyer Ernest Leff could be reached for comment on the filing.