Title 46, Cemeteries

(a) There is established within the state general fund a cemetery state administrative fund referred to as the “cemetery state administrative account”. All funds received by the commissioner under this section shall be deposited into the account and held solely for the purposes o…

(a) This chapter and chapter 2 of this title do not apply to:(1) Cemeteries owned by municipalities;(2) Cemeteries owned by churches, associations of churches, or church governing bodies;(3) Cemeteries owned by religious organizations;(4) Family burial grounds; or(5) Cemeteries o…

(a) No later than thirty (30) days prior to the sale or transfer of any cemetery required to be registered by this chapter, or the sale or transfer of a controlling interest in the cemetery company that owns the cemetery, the transferor shall notify the commissioner in writing, a…

(a) A cemetery company has the power to purchase land, not exceeding two hundred (200) acres, to be used as a cemetery forever, to lay the land off in suitable avenues or walks and embellish with trees, shrubbery, and flowers, and to subdivide the land into lots suitable for grav…

(a) A cemetery company may hold any grant or bequest in money or other property, and shall faithfully apply the grants or bequests for the improvements of the cemetery, or in the erection or preservation of any tomb or monument, according to the terms of the grant or bequest, exc…

(a) Cemetery companies owning lands never actually used by them for cemetery purposes, and that are not suitable or adapted to such purpose, or are found by them to be not needful for such purposes, are empowered to sell and convey or otherwise dispose of the lands for secular or…

(a) A record shall be kept of every burial in the cemetery of the cemetery company, showing the date of burial and name of the person buried, together with the designation of lot or space in which the burial was made. In addition, the cemetery company shall keep records showing t…

(a) (1) When a cemetery operator has actual knowledge either of an incorrect interment or of an error in the assignment of an interment right, a cemetery operator shall have the right to correct such error pursuant to this section.(2) For purposes of this section, “interment” and…

It is the purpose of this part to require cemetery companies in the state to carry at all times a sufficient improvement care trust fund to maintain, keep up and beautify the cemeteries, without commercializing the operation of the cemeteries, and to maintain a pre-need merchandi…

(a) Every cemetery company shall carry fidelity bond coverage of at least one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) or a higher amount that the commissioner deems sufficient for officers and employees who handle money and securities. (b) The annual financial report required by § 46…

(a) No person or group of persons shall engage in the business of owning and operating a cemetery company, except as authorized by this chapter and chapter 2 of this title, and without first:(1) If an entity required to register with or obtain any form of approval from the secret…

(a) (1) Every cemetery company engaged in the business of selling, leasing, or renting lots, grave spaces, crypts, niches, and burial rights in this state shall establish and forever maintain an improvement care trust fund to provide for the improvement, care, and maintenance of …

No dividend, salary or compensation of any description shall be paid to any stockholder of any cemetery company or any cemetery operator until the company has first set up the improvement care trust fund in the manner and amount provided in § 46-1-204, and no dividend, salary or …

(a) Except as provided in this section, no cemetery company shall directly or indirectly offer to or enter into a contract for the sale of cemetery merchandise or services to be used or performed in connection with the interment or commemoration of a deceased human being, if deli…

(a) A sales contract shall be executed in duplicate, and a signed copy given to the purchaser. The contract shall contain the names of the purchaser and the seller and the name of any person, if other than the purchaser, who is to receive the cemetery merchandise or services cont…

(a) The pre-need cemetery merchandise and services trust funds, including the income from the trust funds, after payment of any appropriate trustee fees, commissions and costs, shall remain intact until the cemetery merchandise is delivered or the services performed as specified …

(a) If for any reason a cemetery company that has entered into a contract for the sale of cemetery merchandise or services and has made the deposit into the trust funds as required in this part, cannot or does not provide the cemetery merchandise or perform the services called fo…

Any provision of any contract for the sale of cemetery merchandise or the performance of services that purports to waive any of this part shall be null and void.

This part also applies to all corporations, persons, or businesses, except those corporations, persons or businesses owning and operating a cemetery that maintains an improvement care trust fund, and in which the mausoleum is to be, is being, or has been constructed, engaged in t…

Any corporation, person, or business, except those corporations, persons or businesses owning and operating a cemetery that maintains an improvement care trust fund, and in which the mausoleum is to be, is being, or has been constructed, engaged in the public sale of burial space…

A cemetery company shall commence construction or development of any undeveloped ground or building in which lawn or mausoleum crypts are to be constructed and in which sales, contracts for sale, or agreements for sales, are being made, within thirty-six (36) months after the dat…

(a) (1) Not later than seventy-five (75) days after the end of each of its fiscal years, each cemetery company that engages in sales requiring the establishment of a trust account under this part shall file with the commissioner, on the prescribed form, a report containing:(A) Be…

(a) Within seventy-five (75) days after the end of the calendar year or its fiscal year and within seventy-five (75) days on an annual basis thereafter, each cemetery company shall file with the commissioner a report of its condition, on forms provided by the commissioner, which …

The annual reports required to be filed in this part shall be duly verified under oath by the owner of the cemetery company and the annual reports by the trustee of the trust fund. Upon filing, the reports shall become public records.

Interested persons, as that term is defined in § 46-4-102, may enter into an agreement with the owners of real property that is not designated as a cemetery, but does have human remains with marked and identifiable graves, to conduct improvement care, as that term is defined in §…

(a) When the improvement care trust fund has become sufficiently large that the net earnings, as defined in § 46-1-204, will ensure the permanent maintenance and upkeep of the cemetery, and the officers and board of directors are of the opinion that it is no longer necessary to c…

(a) The commissioner is responsible for administering and enforcing this chapter. (b) The commissioner may promulgate rules and regulations that are reasonably necessary to effectuate the purposes of this chapter. All rules and regulations shall be promulgated in accordance with …

(a) Any owner or officer of a cemetery company or officer of the trustee of the respective improvement care fund who willfully fails to make the required report, or to file the report of the trustee, required in this chapter, commits a Class A misdemeanor. (b) Upon failure to rec…

(a) It is the duty of the commissioner or the commissioner's duly authorized representatives to examine the annual reports made by the cemetery companies and the annual reports made by the trustees, which shall be filed and carefully preserved as a part of the permanent records o…

(a) As to matters within its reasonable control, a cemetery company shall maintain its cemeteries so as to reflect respect for the memory of the dead in keeping with the reasonable sensibilities of survivors of those whose remains are interred in the cemeteries. (b) (1) The distr…

In addition to the liabilities declared in § 46-1-304, the suitor who brings suit and recovers from a stockholder, director or officer of a company shall also recover reasonable attorney's fees, the amount of which shall be fixed and adjudged by the court before whom the case is …

(a) The commissioner may refuse to issue or renew, and may revoke or suspend, the registration of any cemetery registered pursuant to this chapter or corresponding provisions of prior law for any one (1) or more of the following reasons:(1) Fraud or deceit on the part of a cemete…

(a) Any cemetery company or seller who, having received any moneys under or in connection with a pre-need sales contract for cemetery merchandise and services, fails to deposit or keep on deposit the moneys as required in this chapter, or who fails to substantially perform the co…

In civil actions in which the prevailing party proves fraud relative to a pre-need sales contract for cemetery merchandise and services under this chapter, the prevailing party shall receive treble damages, together with attorney's fees, costs, and interest.

Failure to comply with § 46-1-204 or § 46-1-215 shall constitute grounds for the state to revoke the charter or certificate of authority of a corporate cemetery company. The revocation proceeding may be filed in the chancery court of the county where the cemetery is located, and …

(a) The state is authorized to recover from stockholders, for the use of the company, dividends illegally paid under § 46-1-205. (b) The state is also authorized to recover from the officers and directors of the company and the cemetery operators, at any time, for the use of the …

(a) The commissioner may, upon determining that a deficiency exists in the improvement care fund or that a cemetery company has willfully failed to file annual reports, as provided in § 46-1-302, of any cemetery or separate geographical site of a cemetery as required by this chap…

(a) (1) The Davidson County chancery court, upon the petition of the commissioner, may appoint the commissioner as receiver to take charge of, control and manage a cemetery registered or required to be registered with the commissioner, upon determining that any of the following g…

(a) No person shall willfully destroy, deface, or injure any monument, tomb, gravestone, or other structure placed in the cemetery, or any roadway, walk, fence or enclosure in or around the cemetery, or injure any tree, plant or shrub, or hunt or shoot, play at any game or amusem…