Title XII — PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE

214.150. County commissions shall become trustees and custodians. — The county commissions of the respective counties of this state shall become trustees and custodians of any fund or funds which may be created by any person or persons, firm or corporation, for the purpose of mai…

214.160. Investment or lending of trust funds — investment manager, duties — definitions. — 1. Under sections 214.140 to 214.180, and as otherwise not prohibited under Article VI, Section 23 of the Constitution of Missouri, the county commission may invest or loan said trust fund…

214.170. May designate responsible organization or individual to administer the income. — Any responsible organization or individual, who is directly interested in a particular cemetery, who is willing to undertake the administration of the income from all trusts and gifts to thi…

214.180. Shall keep record of receipts and disbursements. — The clerk of the commission shall keep in a separate record book all receipts and disbursements of each and every trust fund or funds and a detailed account of the management of the same. ­­-------- (RSMo 1939 § 15271) P…

214.190. Cemetery not subject to execution, dower or partition — exception. — Lands or property, set apart as burial grounds, either for public or private use, and so recorded in the recorder's office of the county where such lands are situated, or any burial ground that may have…

214.200. Title, how obtained to lands used for burial purposes. — When lands shall have been continuously used as a public or private burial ground for a period of ten years or more and such land has not been deeded to the public for the purpose of a burial ground, a title may be…

214.205. Violation of nuisance ordinance — abandonment — action authorized — costs — eminent domain. — 1. If any cemetery not described in section 214.090 is found to be in violation of a city, town, village or county nuisance ordinance for failure to cut grass or weeds, or care …

*214.208. Disinterment authorized, when — consent required, when — cemetery owner not liable, when. — 1. Every person or association which owns any cemetery in which dead human remains are buried or otherwise interred is authorized, at the cemetery owner's expense, to disinter in…

214.209. Abandonment of burial site, rights revert to cemetery. — 1. After a period of seventy-five years since the last recorded activity on a burial site and after a reasonable search for heirs and beneficiaries, the burial site shall be abandoned and the right of ownership in …

214.210. Certain cities may accept or acquire cemetery lands. — Any city in this state now or hereafter containing a population of three hundred thousand or more, and less than six hundred thousand inhabitants according to the now or then last preceding United States census may, …

214.220. Lands or shares subject to all vested rights. — Any such acquisition of lands or shares shall be subject to all vested rights of individual owners of the lots or allotted burial spaces in any such cemetery to continue lawful use thereof for burial purposes and to have th…

[Repealed or reserved.]

214.240. City may provide and enforce rules and regulations. — Such cemetery lands and premises so acquired or the majority control of which may be acquired, shall by the city be kept and used for park purposes as a park for rest and contemplation and as may be reasonably consist…

214.250. Proceedings to establish cemetery in first class counties — petition by taxpayers. — Before any new burial ground, cemetery or graveyard can be opened up, established, started or operated in any town, village, city, county, township, school district or any other politica…

214.260. Penalty for violation. — Any person, persons, association or corporation who shall violate the provisions of section 214.250 shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be fined not less than fifty dollars or more than five hundred dollars and each …

214.270. Definitions. — As used in sections 214.270 to 214.410, the following terms mean: (1) "Agent" or "authorized agent", any person empowered by the cemetery operator to represent the operator in dealing with the general public, including owners of the burial space in the cem…

214.275. License, cemeteries — division's powers and duties — limitations. — 1. No endowed care or nonendowed care cemetery shall be operated in this state unless the owner or operator thereof has a license issued by the division and complies with all applicable state, county or …

214.276. Refusal to issue license, grounds — complaint, procedure. — 1. The division may refuse to issue or renew any license, required pursuant to sections 214.270 to 214.516 for one or any combination of causes stated in subsection 2 of this section. The division shall notify t…

214.277. Injunctions, restraining orders, other court remedies available — venue. — 1. Upon application by the division, and the necessary burden having been met, a court of general jurisdiction may grant an injunction, restraining order or other order as may be appropriate to en…

214.280. Election to operate as endowed care cemetery filing with division of registration, form — fee — deposit of fee — division's powers and duties — rules authorized. — 1. Operators of all existing cemeteries shall, prior to August twenty-eighth following August 28, 1994, ele…

214.282. Voidability of contracts, exceptions. — 1. Each contract sold by a cemetery operator for cemetery services or for grave lots, grave spaces, markers, monuments, memorials, tombstones, crypts, niches, mausoleums, or other receptacles shall be voidable by the purchaser and …

214.283. Notification of burial lands — registry of cemeteries to be kept by division — fee may be charged for copies — surveyor locating unregistered cemetery to file with division, form. — 1. Any person, entity, association, city, town, village, county or political subdivision …

214.300. Nonendowed cemetery may qualify as endowed, when — minimum care and maintenance fund to be established. — Any cemetery operator may, after October 13, 1961, qualify to operate a cemetery which has been operated as a nonendowed cemetery for a minimum of two years, as an e…

214.310. Endowed care and maintenance fund, minimum amount — bond — posting of sign, when, information required. — 1. Any cemetery operator who elects to operate a new cemetery as an endowed care cemetery or who represents to the public that perpetual, permanent, endowed, continu…

214.320. Deposits in fund required, amount — annual report, form furnished by division — audits may be conducted, when — exemption from chapter 436 requirements, when. — 1. An operator of an endowed care cemetery shall establish and deposit in an endowed care trust fund not less …

214.325. Required deposits — deficiency — effect — penalty. — If the deposits to any endowed care trust fund are less than the total sum required to be set aside and deposited since the effective date of such sections, the cemetery operator shall correct such deficiency by deposi…

214.330. Endowed care fund held in trust or segregated account — requirements — duties of trustee or independent investment advisor — operator's duties — endowed care fund agreement. — 1. (1) The endowed care trust fund required by sections 214.270 to 214.410 shall be permanently…

214.335. Contributions to endowed care fund for memorial or monument — deficiency, effect of. — 1. Any endowed care cemetery may require a contribution to the endowed care fund or to a separate memorial care fund for each memorial or monument installed on a grave in the cemetery.…

214.340. Report required — content — oath — filing required. — 1. Each operator of an endowed care cemetery shall maintain at an office in the cemetery or, if the cemetery has no office in the cemetery, at an office within a reasonable distance of the cemetery, the reports of the…

214.345. Sale of cemetery plot — written statement to be given to purchaser — copy of annual report to be available to public. — 1. Any cemetery operator who negotiates the sale of burial space in any cemetery located in this state shall provide each prospective owner of burial s…

214.360. Private use of trust funds prohibited. — No cemetery operator, nor any director, officer or shareholder of any cemetery may borrow or in any other way make use of the endowed care trust funds for his own use, directly or indirectly, or for furthering or developing his or…

214.363. Bankruptcy, assignment for benefit of creditors, endowed care fund exempt. — In the event of a cemetery's bankruptcy, insolvency, or assignment for the benefit of creditors, the endowed care trust funds shall not be available to any creditor as assets of the cemetery's o…

214.365. Cemetery failing to provide maintenance — abandonment or ceasing to operate, division's duties. — Prior to any action as provided in subsection 2 of section 214.205, and when the division has information that a cemetery is not providing maintenance and care, has been aba…

214.367. Sale of assets, notice required — prospective purchaser of endowed care cemetery, right to recent audit — right to continue operation, notification by division. — 1. Prior to selling or otherwise disposing of a majority of the business assets of a cemetery, or a majority…

214.370. Nonendowed cemetery to post signs and give notice of its character. — 1. Every operator of a nonendowed cemetery shall comply with the provisions of this section. 2. Every person subject to this section shall post in a conspicuous place in every office where sales of bur…

214.380. Nonendowed section of endowed care cemetery — signs and notice. — An endowed care cemetery may have within its confines a section which may be sold without endowed care; provided, that such section shall be separately set off from the remainder of the cemetery and provid…

214.385. Moving of grave marker, replacement — delivery of item of burial merchandise. — 1. If the operator of any cemetery or another authorized person moves a grave marker, memorial or monument in the cemetery for any reason, the operator or other authorized person shall replac…

214.387. Burial merchandise or services, deferral of delivery, when — escrow arrangement — distribution of moneys — cancellation. — 1. With the exception of sales made pursuant to section 214.385, all sales of prearranged burial merchandise and services shall be made pursuant to …

214.389. Suspension of distribution, when, procedure. — 1. The division may direct a trustee, financial institution, or escrow agent to suspend distribution from an endowed care trust fund or escrow account if the cemetery operator does not have a current and active cemetery oper…

214.390. Existing cemeteries to operate under law — local law applicable. — Cemeteries existing at the time of the adoption of sections 214.270 to 214.410 shall hereafter be operated subject to the provisions of sections 214.270 to 214.410. Where an ordinance or order is establis…

214.392. Division of professional registration, duties and powers in regulation of cemeteries — rulemaking authority. — 1. The division shall: (1) Recommend prosecution for violations of the provisions of sections 214.270 to 214.410 to the appropriate prosecuting, circuit attorne…

214.400. Citation of law. — Sections 214.270 to 214.410 shall be known as the "Cemetery Endowed Care Trust Fund Law". ­­-------- (L. 1961 p. 538 § 1, A.L. 2010 H.B. 1692, et al. merged with H.B. 2226, et al. merged with S.B. 754)

214.410. Violation of law, penalty. — 1. Any cemetery operator who shall willfully violate any provisions of sections 214.270 to 214.410 for which no penalty is otherwise prescribed shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be fined a sum not to ex…

214.450. Indian cemeteries, how established — trust fund authorized. — Any native American group which is comprised of persons who are members of an Indian organization recognized by the United States pursuant to P.L. 93-638; 95-608, which desires to secure a tribal or group buri…

214.455. Destruction or defacing any cemetery property, penalty. — Every person who shall knowingly destroy, mutilate, disfigure, deface, injure, or remove any tomb, monument, or gravestone, or other structure placed in such cemetery or burial ground or place of burial of any hum…

214.500. Cemeteries acquired by a city at tax sales or as nuisances may be sold. — Any cemetery located in a city which has become the property of such city pursuant to section 214.205 or a public tax sale may be sold to another cemetery operator or a not-for-profit corporation w…

214.504. No liability for new cemetery operators, when — rights of holders of contracts for burial. — Any cemetery operator who purchases a cemetery from a city pursuant to sections 214.500 to 214.516 shall not be liable for any wrongful interments or errors made in the sale of p…

214.508. Previous cemetery owner liable, when. — Any cemetery operator who purchases a cemetery from a city shall not be held liable or responsible for any conditions existing or actions taken which occurred prior to the cemetery operator's purchase from such city; except that, t…

214.512. New cemetery owner not liable for deficiencies, exception. — Any subsequent cemetery owner after a city shall be exempt from the provisions of section 214.325 and section 214.410 for any deficiency existing prior to such city's ownership; except that, such exemption shal…

214.516. Registration as an endowed care cemetery, when — compliance with endowed care cemetery law required. — Any cemetery owner subsequent to a city, regardless of whether such cemetery was previously registered as an endowed care cemetery, held itself out to be an endowed car…