Title 34 — Title 34

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…

To comply with the trust requirement of subsection (a) of Section 34-13-194, all certificate holders providing preneed contracts for funeral services or funeral merchandise shall be subject to this chapter. History: (Act 2002-74, p. 221, §1; §27-17A-30; Act 2023-94, §7.)

(a) Any person who is paid, collects, or receives funds under a preneed contract for funeral services or funeral merchandise to be funded by trust shall deposit in trust an amount at least equal to the sum of 75 percent of the amount collected on the purchase price for all funera…

(a) If amounts paid by the purchaser under a preneed contract for funeral merchandise have previously been deposited in trust, the seller may withdraw the principal amount and trust appreciation attributable to the delivered item at such time as the funeral merchandise is deliver…

(a) A purchaser, by providing written notice to the certificate holder, may cancel a preneed contract within 30 days of the date that the contract was executed provided that the funeral merchandise and funeral services have not yet been used. Upon providing the notice, the purcha…

(a) Disbursement of funds discharging any preneed contract for funeral services or funeral merchandise fulfilled after May 1, 2002, shall be made by the trustee to the certificate holder upon receipt by the trustee of a certification of the certificate holder that the preneed con…

Each member of the board and member of any committee or subcommittee established by the board, after appointment and before entering upon his or her duties, shall make oath before some officer competent to administer oaths that he or she is legally qualified to become a member of…

All hearings provided for by this chapter shall be conducted pursuant to the Alabama Administrative Procedure Act. History: (Acts 1975, No. 214, p. 705, §31; Act 2017-433, §1.)

Subcommittees. (a) The board shall adopt and enforce for the protection of the public health, safety, and welfare reasonable rules pursuant to the Alabama Administrative Procedure Act. (b) The board may establish committees and subcommittees, hold hearings, conduct investigations…

To comply with the trust requirement of subsection (a) of Section 34-13-194, all certificate holders who are cemetery authorities providing preneed contracts for cemetery services or cemetery merchandise shall be subject to this chapter. History: (Act 2002-74, p. 221, §1; Act 201…

(a) Any person who receives or collects any funds on account of a preneed contract in this state for cemetery services or cemetery merchandise, or both, entered into after May 1, 2002, shall have the obligation to pay over and contribute into a trust fund as hereinafter described…

Certification by Seller. (a) The obligation of the seller under a preneed contract shall be to make contributions into the Cemetery Merchandise and Services Trust Fund in accordance with the following formulae: (1) With respect to all cemetery merchandise, 110 percent of wholesal…

(a) Upon cancellation of a preneed contract by mutual agreement between the seller and purchaser, or upon unilateral cancellation of a preneed contract by the seller by reason of default on the part of the purchaser, or other valid cancellation by reason of transfers to another s…

If the amounts paid by the purchaser under a preneed contract for cemetery merchandise have previously been deposited in trust, the seller may withdraw the principal amount there, at the time the cemetery merchandise is delivered or installed or, if comprised of materials designe…

An endowment care fund and all payments or contributions to it are expressly permitted as and for charitable and eleemosynary purposes. No payment, gift, grant, bequest, or other contribution for endowment care is invalid by reason of any indefiniteness or uncertainty of the pers…

Any cemetery now existing or hereafter established, excluding those operated by governmental agencies or religious institutions, may be qualified as an endowment care cemetery, except those cemeteries that do not charge fees or sell plots, interment rights, or any related cemeter…

(a) Every cemetery authority operating an endowment care cemetery shall establish an endowment care fund which shall be placed with and held by a bank, trust company, savings and loan association, or other financial institution authorized to provide trust services under Title 5, …

(a) Each cemetery authority shall comply with this chapter and maintain at each place of business a list of the names and addresses of its owners and directors, which shall be available to the public. (b) Each cemetery authority shall maintain a record of all interment space owne…

Cemetery. (a) From the sale price of each plot, crypt, or niche sold by the cemetery authority of an endowment care cemetery, the cemetery authority shall pay an amount, not less than as determined in accordance with the following schedule, to the trustee of the endowment care fu…

(a) The board shall adopt a common seal, which may be altered as often as the board may desire, and the funeral division of the board may adopt and enforce, for the protection of the public health, safety, and welfare, reasonable rules relating to all of the following: (1) The pr…

Invests, Etc.; Disposition of Funds. (a) No cemetery authority may directly or indirectly require or direct the investment, reinvestment, or retention by a qualified trustee of any part of an endowment care trust in any asset or business in which the cemetery authority or any off…

The trustee shall not be required to inquire into the propriety of the expenditures made by the cemetery authority in connection with endowment care of the cemetery, and it shall not be held responsible in any manner whatsoever for and on account of payments of the income from th…

The trustee, not less than annually, shall file with the cemetery authority an account that shall include a complete disclosure of all activity since the previous account and a statement detailing fund investments. History: (Act 2002-74, p. 221, §1; §27-17A-52; Act 2023-94, §9.)

To the extent that any endowment care trust existing on May 1, 2002, includes investments or assets, the retention of which the trustee in the free exercise of its discretion deems not in the best interest of the trust estate, the trustee shall dispose of the investments or asset…

An annual report of the endowment care fund shall be made to the board by each cemetery authority within 90 days of the close of each calendar year. This report shall include the qualified trustee’s name or names, the bond numbers if individual trustees or the name and address of…

A cemetery authority shall start construction of that section of a mausoleum or bank of below-ground crypts in which sales, contracts for sale, reservations for sale, or agreements for sale are being made, within five years after the date of the first sale or when 75 percent of t…

(a) Each cemetery authority shall adopt rules and regulations for the mutual protection of the cemetery owners and the owners of interment rights in the cemetery. All owners of interment rights and other persons within the cemetery shall be subject to these rules and regulations …

The board shall have the same jurisdiction over funeral establishments, funeral directors, cemetery authorities, or third party sellers who sell preneed contracts without a preneed certificate of authority as the board has over those preneed sellers who possess a preneed certific…

Repealed by Act 2011-623, p. 1439, §2, effective October 1, 2011. History: (Acts 1975, No. 214, p. 705, §36; Acts 1981, No. 81-200, p. 234, §4.)

All necessary expenses incurred in giving examinations to applicants and incidental to the renewal of licenses and all necessary expenses incurred in education and enforcing this chapter shall be audited by the Department of Examiners of Public Accounts and paid from the funds pr…

Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to give any cemetery or cemetery authority or any other person or entity the right to enter into or engage in any funeral home operation or the practice of embalming or funeral directing or any related funeral home or funeral directing a…

2026-590) AMENDED BY ACT 2026-590, EFFECTIVE JUNE 1, 2026. SEE ACT FOR REVISED LANGUAGE. (a) Beginning with the 2024 fiscal year, the Department of Insurance may transfer to the board quarterly, for deposit by the board into the Alabama Board of Funeral Services Fund, the total a…

(a) Whenever, by decision, final order, or other final determination upon any public hearing provided for by this chapter, a party to such hearing shall feel aggrieved, an appeal may be taken to the Circuit Court of Montgomery County, Alabama. (b) On taking and perfecting an appe…

Upon request, the board shall distribute to each licensee and other persons as may be interested therein, in hard copy form, and shall maintain in electronic format on the website of the board, this chapter together with all rules adopted pursuant to this chapter, together with a…

District courts shall have jurisdiction in all criminal prosecutions arising under this chapter. The district attorney is authorized to institute criminal prosecutions for violations of this chapter by information, or prosecutions may be instituted by indictment or by complaint v…

The Alabama Board of Funeral Service shall recognize and approve and accept applicants for examination from only those established embalming schools or colleges which are recognized by the board. The board shall recognize and approve any embalming school or college approved by th…

(a) The board may recognize and issue, without examination and upon payment of a fee not in excess of five hundred dollars ($500) for each license, a reciprocal license for the practice of funeral directing or embalming to any person licensed as a funeral director or embalmer by …

(a) Licenses under this chapter shall be granted to individuals upon the qualification and successful examination of the individual applicant and shall specify the name to whom it is issued. A license, registration, or certificate granted under this chapter shall be on public dis…

(a) Every license, certificate, or registration issued by the board under this chapter shall be renewed biennially, unless otherwise provided by this chapter, upon submission by the licensee or registrant of a renewal application and a renewal fee established by board rule, not e…

No license granted under or regulated by this chapter shall be transferable or assignable, unless otherwise authorized by this chapter. History: (Acts 1975, No. 214, p. 705, §10; Act 2017-433, §1; Act 2022-339, §1.)

(a) When a license, certificate, or registration renewal is past due, the board may renew the license, certificate, or registration if application for renewal is made within a period of 30 days from the date of becoming past due and is accompanied by payment of all past due penal…