GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
1991 SESSION

CHAPTER 653
HOUSE BILL 301

AN ACT TO AMEND THE CEMETERY ACT AND RELATED STATUTES.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1.  G.S. 65-54 reads as rewritten:
"§ 65-54.  Annual budget of Commission; collection of funds.
The Commission shall prepare an annual budget and shall collect the sums of money required for this budget from yearly fees and from any other sources provided in this Article.  On or before July 1 of each year, each licensed cemetery shall pay a license fee to be set by the Commission in an amount not to exceed three hundred dollars ($300.00).  In addition, each licensed cemetery shall pay to the Commission an inspection fee for each grave space, niche, or mausoleum crypt sold and shall pay a fee for each vault, niche, belowground crypt, mausoleum crypt, memorial, or opening and closing of a grave space that is included in a preneed cemetery contract.  The inspection fee for each grave space, niche, or mausoleum crypt is payable when the item is sold and may not exceed two dollars ($2.00).  The fee for each of the listed items that are included in a preneed cemetery contract is payable when the contract is made and may not exceed five dollars ($5.00)."
Sec. 2.  G.S. 65-55(c) reads as rewritten:
"(c)	Upon receipt of the application and filing fee of eight hundred dollars ($800.00), the Commission shall cause an investigation to be made to establish the following criteria for approval of the application:
(1)	The creation of a legal entity to conduct cemetery business, and its proposed financial structure.
(2)	A perpetual care trust fund agreement, with an initial deposit of not less than fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) and with a bank cashier's check or certified check attached for the amount made payable to the trustee.  The trust fund agreement must be executed by the applicant, accepted by the trustee, and conditioned only upon approval of the application.
(3)	A plat of the land to be used for the cemetery, showing the location of the cemetery and the access roads to the cemetery.
(4)	Designation by the legal entity wishing to establish a cemetery of a general manager.  The general manager must be a person of good moral character and have at least one year's experience in cemeteries.
(5)	Development plans sufficient to ensure the community that the cemetery will provide adequate cemetery services and that the property is suitable for use as a cemetery."
Sec. 3.  G.S. 65-53(2) reads as rewritten:
"(2)	To examine a cemetery company's records when a person applies for a change of control of the company."
Sec. 4.  G.S. 65-59 reads as rewritten:
"§ 65-59. Application for a change of control; filing fee.
A person who proposes to acquire control of an existing cemetery company, whether by purchasing the capital stock of the company, purchasing an owner's interest in the company, or otherwise acting to effectively change the control of the company, shall first make application on a form supplied by the Commission for a certificate of approval of the proposed change of control. The application shall contain the name and address of each proposed new owner.  The Commission shall issue a certificate of approval only after it determines that the proposed new owners are qualified by character, experience, and financial responsibility to control and operate the cemetery company in a legal and proper manner, and that the interest of the public generally will not be jeopardized by the proposed change in control.  An application for approval of a change of control must be completed and accompanied by a filing fee of two hundred dollars ($200.00)."
Sec. 5.  G.S. 65-63 reads as rewritten:
"§ 65-63.  Requirements for perpetual care fund.
A cemetery company may not cause or permit advertising of a perpetual care fund in connection with the sale or offer for sale of its property unless the amount deposited in the fund is at least forty dollars ($40.00) per grave space, niche, or mausoleum crypt sold.  Nothing may prohibit an individual cemetery from requiring a perpetual care deposit for grave memorial markers to be deposited in the perpetual care fund so long as the same assessment is uniformly applied to all grave memorial markers installed in the cemetery."
Sec. 6.  G.S. 65-64(e) reads as rewritten:
"(e)	When the amount deposited in the perpetual care fund required by this Article of any cemetery company shall amount to one hundred fifty thousand dollars ($150,000), anything in this Article to the contrary notwithstanding, the cemetery company may make all deposits thereafter either into the original perpetual care trust fund or into a separate fund established as an irrevocable trust, designated as Perpetual Care Trust Fund 'A,' and invested by the trustee as directed by the company.  Funds in a trust fund designated as Trust Fund 'A' may not be invested in another cemetery company and are subject to the requirements of funds deposited in the original perpetual care trust fund."
Sec. 7.  G.S. 65-66(j) is repealed.
Sec. 8.  G.S. 65-69(d) reads as rewritten:
"(d)	The provisions of subsections (a) and (b) relating to a requirement for minimum acreage shall not apply to those cemeteries licensed by the Commission on or before July 1, 1967, which own or control a total of less than 30 acres of land; provided that such cemeteries shall not dispose of any of such lands.  A nongovernment lien or other interest in land acquired in violation of this section is void."
Sec. 9.  G.S. 65-71 reads as rewritten:
"§ 65-71.  Penalties.
(a)	Except as provided in this subsection, a person violating any provisions of this Article, of any order or rule promulgated under this Article, or of any license issued by the Commission is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be fined, imprisoned, or both, in the discretion of the court.  Each failure to deposit funds in a trust fund in accordance with this Article is a separate offense.  A person who has failed to deposit funds in a trust fund in accordance with this Article and whose delinquent deposits equal or exceed twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) is guilty of a Class J felony.
(b)	The officers and directors or persons occupying similar status or performing similar functions of any cemetery company, cemetery sales organization, cemetery management organization or cemetery broker, as defined in this Chapter, failing to make required contributions to the care and maintenance trust fund and any other trust fund or escrow account shall be liable for any offense based on the failure and upon conviction for the offense shall be punished in the manner prescribed by law."
Sec. 10.  This act becomes effective October 1, 1991.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 12th day of July, 1991.

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James C. Gardner
President of the Senate

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Daniel Blue, Jr.
Speaker of the House of Representatives