Title 34 — Title 34

(a) For purposes of this chapter, the following terms have the following meanings: (1) ACCREDITED SCHOOL OR COLLEGE OF MORTUARY SCIENCE. A school or college approved by the American Board of Funeral Service Education, or a successor organization, which maintains a course of instr…

Unless otherwise provided herein, violation of any part of this chapter shall be a Class A misdemeanor which may be prosecuted and shall be punishable as such under the laws of Alabama. History: (Acts 1975, No. 214, p. 705, §53; Acts 1981, No. 81-200, p. 234, §4; Act 2017-433, §1…

(a) A person who is at least 18 years of age and of sound mind may enter into a contract to act as authorizing agent and direct the location, manner, and conditions of disposition of deceased human remains and arrange for funeral and burial goods and services to be provided upon …

Requirements; Advertising Cremation or Cremation Services. (a) Any person, corporation, partnership, society or group owning or operating a funeral establishment coming within this chapter may do so only through the services of a licensed funeral director or embalmer. No person n…

Ownership. (a) No funeral establishment or branch thereof for the preparation, disposition, and care of dead human bodies shall be opened or maintained unless licensed by the board. No funeral establishment or branch shall be moved without obtaining a new funeral establishment li…

Supervision and Control; Licensing of Establishment Not to License Embalmer or Director. (a) All applications for a license to operate a funeral establishment shall show that a managing funeral director and managing embalmer are employed by the establishment. All applications for…

License; Proof of Liability Insurance. (a) Application for a license to operate a funeral establishment shall be made in writing on a form provided by the board. The application shall be verified by the applicant or, if the applicant is a corporation, firm, or other organization,…

(a) An operator of a funeral establishment licensed under subsections (a) and (b) of Section 34-13-113 who desires to change the name of the establishment may have his or her license reissued, in the changed name, upon application to the board and payment of a fee not exceeding s…

(a) The board may revoke, suspend, place on probation, or refuse to renew a license issued to an operator of a funeral establishment or mortuary service as provided in this chapter. (b) If, upon a complaint made to the board or otherwise, the board has reason to believe that the …

Any person, firm, partnership, society, group, or corporation who has control of a funeral home, mortuary, chapel, funeral establishment, crematory, or mortuary service and fails to register same according to this chapter, upon conviction, may be fined not less than five hundred …

Disposition of human remains shall occur within 48 hours after the time of death or the time the body is released by the coroner or a medical examiner, unless the body has been embalmed by a licensed embalmer in this state, with permission from the authorizing agent, or the body …

Licensee; Liability. (a) Any person signing a funeral service agreement, cremation authorization form, or any other authorization for disposition by his or her signature shall attest to the truthfulness of any facts set forth in the document including, but not limited to, the ide…

Inspection; Records; Violations; Rulemaking Authority. (a) No person, firm, corporation, association, entity, or funeral establishment, or branch thereof, may operate a crematory for the purpose of cremating dead human bodies, unless licensed by the board as a funeral establishme…

No person may conduct, maintain, manage, or operate a cremation facility unless licensed to do so by the board. The board may issue a license to practice as a cremationist after the applicant has satisfied all of the following requirements: (1) Is at least 21 years of age. (2) Is…

Records. (a) Human remains shall not be cremated under either of the following circumstances: (1) Within 24 hours after the time of death, unless death was a result of an infectious, contagious, or communicable disease and unless the disease is verified and the time requirement w…

(a) The authorizing agent shall provide a signed statement to the funeral establishment handling the cremation arrangements specifying the ultimate disposition of the cremated remains. A copy of this statement shall be retained by the funeral establishment for a period of five ye…

The board may refuse to grant, refuse to renew, suspend, or revoke the license of, or fine a cremationist or crematory, after proper hearing and notice is provided to the licensee, upon the board finding the licensee is guilty of any of the following: (1) Any violation of this ch…

(a) Every person desiring to engage as an apprentice shall satisfy all of the following: (1) Make application as a funeral director’s apprentice or an embalmer’s apprentice to the board upon a form provided by the board. The applicant shall submit to the board a form, sworn to by…

(a) A certificate of apprenticeship issued in accordance with this chapter shall be renewed annually in accordance with Section 34-13-53. (b)(1) If an apprentice fails to renew his or her apprentice certification in accordance with this chapter, the certification may be reinstate…

All apprentices registered as provided in this chapter shall be under the supervision and control of the board and shall include with their annual renewal case reports an annual report and skills evaluation on a form prescribed by the board. The information contained in the repor…

The board has power to grant leaves of absence and to grant extensions thereof to apprentices registered under the provisions of this chapter. However, no credit shall be given to an apprentice upon his or her apprenticeship for the period during which he or she is absent from du…

from Roadway. The board has power to suspend, revoke, or place on probation a certificate of apprenticeship where the apprentice is guilty of any of the following acts or omissions: (1) Failure to devote not less than an average of 30 hours per week to the duties of his or her ap…

Repealed by Act 2011-623, p. 1439, §2, effective October 1, 2011. History: (Acts 1976, No. 586, p. 798, §1.)

Funeral Service. Repealed by Act 2011-623, p. 1439, §2, effective October 1, 2011. History: (Acts 1976, No. 586, p. 798, §§2, 4.)

Repealed by Act 2011-623, p. 1439, §2, effective October 1, 2011. History: (Acts 1976, No. 586, p. 798, §3.)

Funeral Services. (a) This article shall be known and may be cited as the Alabama Preneed Funeral and Cemetery Act of 2023. (b)(1) The Alabama Board of Funeral Services succeeds to and is vested with the powers, duties, and functions of the Department of Insurance relating to the…

Preneed Seller as Beneficiary or Assignee. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to prohibit the funding of preneed contracts with multiple insurance or annuity contracts. Life insurance and annuity contracts used to fund preneed contracts shall conform with Title 27 as they…

Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to prohibit cemetery authorities from selling funeral merchandise, funeral establishments from selling cemetery merchandise, or third-party sellers from selling either funeral merchandise or cemetery merchandise, or both. Provided, the r…

(a) No person may sell a preneed contract without first having a valid certificate of authority. (b)(1) No person may receive any funds for payment on a preneed contract who does not hold a valid certificate of authority. (2) Any preneed transaction in which a buyer pays to the s…

(Amended by Act 2026-590) [Effective until June 1, 2026.] AMENDED BY ACT 2026-590, EFFECTIVE JUNE 1, 2026. SEE ACT FOR REVISED LANGUAGE. (a) An application to the board for a certificate of authority shall be accompanied by the statement and other matters described in this sectio…

2026-590) [Effective until June 1, 2026.] AMENDED BY ACT 2026-590, EFFECTIVE JUNE 1, 2026. SEE ACT FOR REVISED LANGUAGE. (a) On or before July 1, each year, the certificate holder shall file a report of its preneed contract activity on a form or in a format prescribed by the boar…

(a) Preneed contract forms and related forms shall be filed with and approved by the board. (b) Specific disclosure regarding whether, consistent with the requirements of this chapter, the certificate holder is placing certain preneed funds received with the contract in trust, in…

Contracts. (a) Except as provided in Sections 34-13-171 and 34-13-195, every preneed contract shall require the monies paid to the seller or trustee to be placed in trust in accordance with Division 3, for funeral merchandise and services sold by funeral establishments or third p…

(a) As an alternative to the trust requirement of Section 34-13-194, the details of which are set forth in Divisions 3 and 4, a preneed provider, with the prior approval of the board, may purchase a surety bond in an amount not less than the aggregate value of outstanding liabili…

(a) The board, as often as deemed necessary, shall examine the business of any person writing, or holding himself or herself out to be writing, preneed contracts under this chapter to the extent applicable. The examination shall be made by designated representatives employed or c…

(a) A certificate holder shall be considered inactive upon the acceptance of the surrender of its license by the board or upon the nonreceipt by the board of the certificate of authority renewal application and fees. (b) A certificate holder shall cease all preneed sales to the p…

Authority and the Establishment License of a Certificate Holder. The board may fine and revoke, suspend, or place on probation the certificate of authority and the establishment license of a certificate holder on any of the following grounds: (1) The certificate holder is impaire…

1, 2026.] AMENDED BY ACT 2026-590, EFFECTIVE JUNE 1, 2026. SEE ACT FOR REVISED LANGUAGE. (a) All individuals who offer preneed contracts to the public, or who execute preneed contracts on behalf of a certificate holder, shall be registered with the board as preneed sales agents, …

It is declared and established that the procedures for making final disposition of human dead, including embalming, funeral directing, cremating, disposing, and burying of deceased human remains, are so affected with the public interest as to require regulation and control of the…

Removal from Board. (a) There is established the Alabama Board of Funeral Services, consisting of 14 members, each of whom shall be citizens of the United States and residents of the State of Alabama. The membership of the board shall be divided into two distinct divisions, the f…

No person shall engage in this state in any trade practice which is addressed in the Alabama Deceptive Trade Practices Act, Chapter 19 of Title 8, or as determined pursuant to this chapter to be an unfair method of competition or an unfair or deceptive act or practice. History: (…

(a) Whenever the board has reason to believe that any person has engaged, or is engaging, in this state in any unfair method of competition or any unfair or deceptive act or practice as defined in this chapter, or is engaging in the sale of preneed contracts without being properl…

(a) If the board finds that one or more grounds exist for the discretionary suspension or revocation of a certificate of authority or establishment license issued under this chapter, the board, in lieu of the suspension or revocation, may impose a fine upon the certificate holder…

(a)(1) A person who knowingly receives payments for a preneed contract without having a valid certificate of authority: a. Commits a Class B felony as to each contract on which the payments collected equal or exceed, in the aggregate, two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500). b…

The board, the Attorney General, or any person may bring a civil action against a person or company violating this chapter or rule of the board in Montgomery County or the appropriate court of the county in which the alleged violator resides or has his or her or its principal pla…

The provisions of this chapter are cumulative to rights under the general civil and common law, and no action of the board may abrogate the rights to damages or other relief in any court. History: (Act 2002-74, p. 221, §1; §27-17A-24; Act 2023-94, §5.)

(a) All fees collected by the board pursuant to this chapter shall be deposited into the Alabama State Funeral Services Fund. (b) All fines collected by the board pursuant to this chapter shall be deposited into the Alabama State Funeral Services Fund. (c) The board may use funds…

There are created, for the purpose of this chapter, seven geographical districts that shall be identical with the seven congressional districts as fixed and established by Section 17-14-70, as may be amended. It is the purpose and intention of this section to provide that not mor…

(a) The Alabama Board of Funeral Services shall hold not less than one joint meeting of both divisions quarterly for the purpose of reviewing financial, budgetary, and employment matters. The quarterly meetings to be held at a time and place as the board may determine after notic…

Director; Disposition of Funds. (a)(1) The board shall select from its own membership a chair and adopt rules for the transaction of its business and for the betterment and promotion of the standards of service and practice to be followed in the death care industry in the State o…