Title 62, Professions, Businesses and Trades

The Uniform Administrative Procedures Act, compiled in title 4, chapter 5, governs all matters and procedures respecting the hearing and judicial review of any contested case arising under this chapter.

Any advertisement by a funeral director or embalmer for the sale of merchandise or services that indicates a specific price shall include an itemized listing of each and every item, procedure or service and shall show the price of the item. Failure to include the itemized price l…

(a) A funeral director shall utilize the services only of licensed crematory facilities. (b) If a funeral director utilizes the services of a crematory outside of this state, the crematory must be a licensed facility of the state in which the crematory is located. (c) Prior to ut…

(a) Any vehicle that transports a dead human body or body parts from a funeral establishment in this state to a crematory, other than a vehicle that is owned or operated by a funeral establishment and has the name of the funeral establishment on the outside of the vehicle, shall …

(a) There is created a state board to be known and designated as the board of funeral directors and embalmers for this state. The board shall consist of seven (7) members who shall possess good moral character, shall be residents of the state and shall be appointed by the governo…

Members of the board, before entering upon their duties, shall take and subscribe to the oath of office provided for state officers.

The board has the power to select from its members a president and vice president, to adopt, promulgate, and enforce rules and regulations to effectuate this chapter, to transact its business, and to establish standards of service, practice, and education for licensees, consisten…

The director of the division of regulatory boards or the director's designee shall serve as executive director for the board and shall provide all administrative functions for the board.

(a) The board may hold meetings that it may deem necessary; provided, that all members have been notified in writing of the meetings and may transact any business at any such meeting. (b) Four (4) or more members shall comprise a quorum authorizing the board to transact the busin…

(a) All fees, penalties and other moneys derived from the operation of this chapter shall be paid to the board and shall be used by it for the purpose of defraying the necessary expenses of the board in the administration of this chapter. (b) The moneys received by the board over…

(a) Notwithstanding any provision of this chapter or rule to the contrary, the board is authorized to conduct inspections and investigate complaints to enforce this chapter. (b) The board, utilizing an authorized representative licensed as a funeral director and embalmer, shall:(…

The board of funeral directors and embalmers shall publish its rules and regulations covering subjects to be included in all examinations, the method of conducting the examinations and other matters pertaining to the examinations.

All manuscripts submitted in answer to questions on any examination provided in this chapter shall be kept on file for at least sixty (60) days after the results are announced by the board, shall be made available to the applicant for examination in the presence of a member of th…

(a) (1) In order to safeguard life and health and to prevent the spread of contagious diseases and to improve sanitary conditions and public health generally, it is required that only properly qualified persons shall engage in funeral directing, embalming and operating of a funer…

(a) Every person, partnership, firm, association or corporation desiring to commence the operation of a funeral establishment after January 1, 2008, shall make application to the board, along with payment of a nonrefundable fee as set by the board. (b) All applications shall show…

(a) Every person not previously licensed in this state as a funeral director, desiring to engage in the practice or business of funeral directing, shall make application to the board, along with a nonrefundable fee as set by the board. (b) The application shall contain the name o…

(a) In addition to the qualifications listed in § 62-5-305, every person desiring to enter into the practice of funeral directing, except as otherwise provided in this chapter, shall pass an examination to determine the applicant's knowledge and fitness for the practice of funera…

(a) No person shall be granted a license to engage in the practice of embalming dead human bodies within this state unless the person makes application to the board for the license, along with a nonrefundable fee as set by the board. (b) The application shall contain the name of …

(a) In addition to the qualifications listed in § 62-5-307, every person desiring to enter into the practice of embalming, except as provided in this chapter, shall pass an examination to determine the person's knowledge and fitness for the practice of embalming, as required by t…

(a) It is unlawful for any person not a registered funeral director or embalmer to engage in funeral directing or embalming. (b) It is unlawful for any person, partnership, firm, association or corporation not licensed as provided in this chapter to engage in the operation of a f…

(a) Any person on February 8, 1951, who was employed as an embalmer by a funeral director in this state, shall be entitled to take the examination prescribed in this chapter upon application to the board, prior to July 1, 1972, notwithstanding any other requirement. (b) Any perso…

(a) A nonresident of this state who holds a valid license as a funeral director or embalmer issued by another state or provincial authority may apply for a license as a funeral director or embalmer in this state by submitting written application to the board on the prescribed for…

(a) When beginning the required apprenticeship, the person shall file an apprentice registration form with the board and shall pay a fee in the amount to be established by the board. The registration shall be valid for a period of three (3) years from the date of registration, or…

(a) Every person, firm, partnership or corporation, at each and every place of business conducted by that person, firm, partnership or corporation, in the business or practice of funeral directing shall have a fixed place of business or establishment devoted to the care and prepa…

The name of any living person who has not been licensed as provided in this chapter shall not be shown or displayed upon any funeral establishment, or used alone, in, as part of or in connection, association, combination or together with the name or title of any person, firm, cor…

(a) All licenses issued to funeral directors or embalmers as provided in this chapter shall be issued for a period of two (2) years and shall be renewed biennially, at a fee in an amount to be established by the board, subject to this chapter. (b) All licenses issued to funeral e…

(a) Any license that is not renewed by its expiration date becomes invalid. The holder of the invalid license shall not practice the profession for which the license was issued, nor shall an establishment be operated if the establishment's license has become invalid, until such t…

(a) The board may refuse to grant or may suspend, revoke or refuse to renew any license granted to any person under this chapter if:(1) The applicant for or holder of the license obtained the license by fraud or misrepresentation either in the application for the license or in pa…

(a) On or after January 1, 2014, no removal service shall operate in this state unless the removal service is registered with the board of funeral directors and embalmers. All such registrations shall expire two (2) years from the date of the registration or renewal. The board ma…

This part is known and may be cited as the “Tennessee Prepaid Funeral Benefits Act.”

This part governs the qualifications and procedures for registration and general regulatory requirements for the sale of prepaid funeral benefits in this state.

(1) As used in this part, unless the context requires otherwise:(1) “Cash advance item” means any item obtained from a third party and paid for by the funeral provider on the purchaser's behalf. Cash advance items may include, but are not limited to, sales tax, certified copies o…

(a) With the exception of a funeral director licensed in this state, an individual shall not offer or sell pre-need funeral contracts without first registering with the commissioner as a pre-need sales agent. An individual shall not sell, solicit, or negotiate prearrangement insu…

(a) In order to obtain a pre-need seller registration or a pre-need sales agent registration, an individual, funeral establishment or other individual, firm, partnership, company, corporation, or association shall:(1) File an application with the department on a form prescribed b…

(a) (1) No pre-need funeral contract shall be offered in this state until a copy of the contract has been issued by the commissioner for general use.(2) If no contract has been issued by the commissioner pursuant to subdivision (a)(1), then no pre-need funeral contract shall be o…

(a) Every pre-need seller engaged in the business of selling pre-need funeral contracts funded by a trust shall establish a pre-need funeral trust fund. The trust fund shall be established by executing a written trust agreement with a trustee; provided, that a pre-need seller may…

(a) Moneys held in a pre-need funeral contract trust shall be held in trust, both as to principal and income earned on the principal, and shall remain intact, except that the trustee shall have the right to use trust fund income to pay applicable taxes and reasonable expenses rel…

(a) If the pre-need funeral contract purchaser chooses to fund the contract by a prearrangement insurance policy, the enrollment or application form for the prearrangement insurance policy or certificate shall be submitted to the insurance company by the pre-need sales agent with…

(a) Upon the death of the contract beneficiary, the trustee or the insurance company shall pay the funeral establishment or other provider that furnished the services or merchandise only after they have been furnished with a certified copy of the death certificate of the person, …

(a) Every pre-need seller shall keep and maintain, at a minimum, accurate accounts, books, and records in this state of all pre-need funeral contract and prearrangement insurance policy transactions, copies of all agreements, insurance policies, instruments of assignment, the dat…

A pre-need seller registration may be transferred to a new owner upon payment of a fee fixed by the commissioner and upon submission of an audit report prepared and signed by an independent certified public accountant licensed in this state. All the fees and expenses in connectio…

(a) The commissioner shall administer this part. (b) The commissioner shall promulgate rules and regulations to effectuate the intent of this part in accordance with the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act, compiled in title 4, chapter 5. (c) The commissioner shall collect a fe…

(a) 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 pre-need seller upon one (1) or more of the following grounds:(1) The pre-need seller has not maintained trust funds rec…

A violation of this part is a Class C misdemeanor.

In addition to other remedies, an action of injunction may be brought and maintained by the state or any other interested party to enjoin the violation of this part.

In civil actions, in which the prevailing party proves fraud relative to a contract for future services under this part, the prevailing party shall receive treble damages together with attorneys' fees, costs and interest.