Title XIII, COMMERCE (Ch. 505 - 554I)

1. This chapter shall be administered by the commissioner. The commissioner may employ officers, attorneys, accountants, and other employees as needed for administering this chapter . 2. It is unlawful for the commissioner or any administrative staff to use for personal benefit a…

1. The commissioner may, for the purpose of discovering a violation of this chapter or implementing rules or orders issued under this chapter , do any of the following: a. Make such public or private investigations within or outside of this state as the commissioner deems necessa…

If it appears to the commissioner that a person has engaged or is about to engage in an act or practice constituting a violation of this chapter , or implementing rules or orders issued under this chapter , the commissioner or the attorney general may do any of the following: 1. …

1. If a person fails or refuses to file a statement or report or to produce any books, accounts, papers, correspondence, memoranda, purchase agreements, files, or other documents or records, or to obey a subpoena issued by the commissioner, the commissioner may refer the matter t…

1. A violation of this chapter or rules adopted or orders issued under this chapter is a violation of section 714.16, subsection 2 , paragraph “a” . The remedies and penalties provided by section 714.16 , including but not limited to injunctive relief and penalties, apply to viol…

1. The commissioner may cooperate with any governmental law enforcement or regulatory agency to encourage uniform interpretation and administration of this chapter and effective enforcement of this chapter and effective regulation of the sale of memorials, memorialization, and ce…

1. Under chapter 17A , the commissioner may from time to time make, amend, and rescind such rules, forms, and orders as are necessary or appropriate for the protection of purchasers and the public and to administer the provisions of this chapter , its implementing rules, and orde…

1. A document is filed when it is received by the commissioner. 2. Requests for interpretive opinions may be granted in the commissioner’s discretion. 2005 Acts, ch 128, §16

It is unlawful for a person to make or cause to be made, in any document filed with the commissioner, or in any proceeding under this chapter , any statement of material fact which is, at the time and in the light of the circumstances under which it is made, false or misleading, …

It is unlawful for a seller under this chapter to represent or imply in any manner that the seller has been sponsored, recommended, or approved, or that the seller’s abilities or qualifications have in any respect been passed upon by the commissioner. 2005 Acts, ch 128, §18

A person who commits any of the following acts commits a fraudulent practice which is punishable as provided in chapter 714 : 1. Knowingly fails to comply with any requirement of this chapter . 2. Knowingly makes, causes to be made, or subscribes to a false statement or represent…

1. The commissioner may notify the attorney general of the potential need for establishment of a receivership if a receivership is requested or consented to by a cemetery subject to this chapter . 2. The commissioner shall notify the attorney general of the potential need for est…

A special revenue fund in the state treasury, to be known as the insurance division’s enforcement fund, is created under the authority of the commissioner. The commissioner shall deposit all examination fees collected pursuant to section 523I.808 in the insurance division’s enfor…

1. The commissioner or the commissioner’s designee may conduct an examination under this chapter of any cemetery as often as the commissioner deems appropriate. If a cemetery has a trust arrangement, the commissioner shall conduct an examination not less than once every five year…

All actions relating to the enforcement of this chapter shall be governed by the laws of the state of Iowa. Venue of any action relating to enforcement of this chapter may be in a court of competent jurisdiction in Polk county, at the discretion of the commissioner. 2007 Acts, ch…

If the commissioner discovers a violation of a provision of this chapter or any other state law or rule concerning the disposal or transportation of human remains, the commissioner shall forward all evidence in the possession of the commissioner concerning such a violation to the…

1. A cemetery shall disclose, prior to the sale of interment rights, whether opening and closing services are included in the purchase of the interment rights. If opening and closing services are not included in the sale of interment rights and the cemetery offers opening and clo…

A cemetery shall provide services necessary for the installation of outer burial containers or other similar merchandise sold by the cemetery. This section shall not require the cemetery to provide for opening and closing of interment or entombment space, unless an agreement exec…

A cemetery shall not deny access to a licensed funeral director who is conducting funeral services or supervising the interment or disinterment of human remains. 2005 Acts, ch 128, §25

1. A cemetery may adopt, amend, and enforce rules for the use, care, control, management, restriction, and protection of the cemetery, as necessary for the proper conduct of the business of the cemetery, including but not limited to the use, care, and transfer of any interment sp…

1. Authorization. A cemetery is entitled to determine whether a person requesting installation of a memorial is authorized to do so, to the extent that this can be determined from the records of the cemetery, as is consistent with the cemetery’s rules. The owner of an interment s…

It shall be unlawful for any organization subject to the provisions of this chapter to pay or offer to pay to, or for any person, firm, or corporation to receive directly or indirectly, a commission or bonus or rebate or other thing of value, for or in connection with the sale of…

It shall be unlawful for any organization subject to the provisions of this chapter to deny the privilege of interment of the remains of any deceased person in any cemetery solely because of the race, color, or national origin of such deceased person. Any contract, agreement, dee…

A cemetery or any person representing a cemetery in a sales capacity shall not advertise or represent, in connection with the sale or attempted sale of any interment space, that the same is or will be a desirable speculative investment for resale purposes. 2005 Acts, ch 128, §30 …

1. A person authorized to control the deceased person’s remains under section 144C.5 shall have the right to control the interment, relocation, or disinterment of a decedent’s remains within or from a cemetery. 2. A person who represents that the person knows the identity of a de…

1. For sales or transfers of interment rights made on or after July 1, 2005, a cemetery shall issue a certificate of interment rights or other instrument evidencing the conveyance of exclusive rights of interment upon payment in full of the purchase price. 2. The interment rights…

1. For sales or transfers of interment rights made on or after July 1, 2005, a cemetery shall keep complete records identifying the owners of all interment rights sold by the cemetery and historical information regarding any transfers of ownership. The records shall include all o…

1. A nonperpetual cemetery shall not sell any lot or interment space in the cemetery unless the purchaser of the interment space is informed that the cemetery is a nonperpetual care cemetery. Each nonperpetual care cemetery shall have printed or stamped at the head of all of its …

1. A person that dedicates property for a new cemetery on or after July 1, 2005, and a cemetery that dedicates an additional garden on or after July 1, 2005, shall: a. In the case of land, survey and subdivide the property into gardens with descriptive names or numbers and make a…

1. A person shall not offer to sell interment rights in a mausoleum or columbarium that will be built or completed in the future unless the person has notified the commissioner of the offer to sell on a form prescribed by the commissioner. 2. The notice of an offer to sell interm…

1. A standard interment space for full body interment developed on or after July 1, 2007, shall measure at least forty inches in width and ninety-six inches in length. 2. Prior to the sale of interment rights in an undeveloped area of a cemetery, internal reference markers shall …

1. Foreclosure — unpaid assessments. Unpaid care assessments for an unoccupied interment space not under perpetual care shall create a lien by the cemetery against the applicable interment space. The cemetery may, following notice, foreclose on the interment space if the amount o…

1. Existence of cemetery or burial site — notification. If a governmental subdivision is notified of the existence of a cemetery, or a marked burial site that is not located in a dedicated cemetery, within its jurisdiction and the cemetery or burial site is not otherwise provided…

A cemetery shall provide or permit public access to the cemetery, at reasonable times and subject to reasonable regulations, so that owners of interment rights and other members of the public have reasonable ingress and egress to the cemetery. 2006 Acts, ch 1117, §124

The commissioner shall create a form that interested persons may use to report neglected cemeteries to the commissioner. The commissioner shall catalog and review the neglected cemetery reports received on or before December 31, 2007, conduct site visits as warranted to determine…

1. Upon a showing of good cause, a county cemetery commission may file suit in the district court in that county to have remains interred in a cemetery owned and operated by the commission removed to another cemetery. All persons in interest, known or unknown, other than the plai…

A cemetery may designate a portion of the cemetery as a pioneer section to be restored and maintained by the county cemetery commission as provided in section 331.325, subsection 3 , paragraph “d” . 2022 Acts, ch 1153, §55

The governing body of a governmental subdivision may purchase, establish, operate, enclose, improve, or regulate a cemetery. A cemetery owned or operated by a governmental subdivision may sell interment rights subject to the provisions of this chapter . 2005 Acts, ch 128, §41

1. A governmental subdivision that owns or operates a cemetery or has control of cemetery property may act as a permanent trustee for the perpetual maintenance of interment spaces in the cemetery. 2. To act as a trustee, a majority of the governmental subdivision’s governing body…

1. A governmental subdivision that is a trustee for the perpetual maintenance of a cemetery may adopt reasonable rules governing the receipt of a gift or grant from any source. 2. A governmental subdivision that is a trustee for a person shall accept the amount the governmental s…

A district judge of a county in which a cemetery is located shall appoint a suitable successor or trustee to faithfully execute a trust in accordance with this subchapter if a governmental subdivision renounces a trust assumed under this subchapter , fails to act as its trustee, …

1. In the absence of a trustee for care funds, unless otherwise provided by law, the care funds shall be placed in the hands of the county auditor, who shall provide a receipt for, loan, and make annual reports of the care funds. 2. The county auditor shall not be required to pos…

A governmental subdivision subject to this section may commingle care funds for more than one cemetery for the purposes of investment and administration and may file a single report, if each cemetery is appropriately identified and separate records are maintained for each cemeter…

Notwithstanding section 12B.10 , a perpetual care cemetery owned by a governmental subdivision may invest and reinvest deposits pursuant to the requirements of this chapter . The trustee shall use the judgment and care under the circumstances then prevailing that persons of prude…

1. Political subdivisions as trustees. Counties, cities, irrespective of their form of government, boards of trustees of cities to whom the management of municipal cemeteries has been transferred by ordinance, and civil townships wholly outside of any city, are trustees in perpet…

The court in which the estate of a deceased person is administered, before final distribution, may allow and set apart from the estate a sum sufficient to provide an income adequate to pay for the perpetual care and upkeep of the interment space in which the body of the deceased …