Chapter 35, Chapter 35

On or after July 1, 1993, no person, partnership, firm or corporation may engage in the business of operating a cemetery company in this state without having first paid an annual registration fee established by the Tax Commissioner in an amount not to exceed $400, and filing with…

The trustees of any burial grounds, or any incorporated cemetery association whenever it is deemed advisable by such trustees or association, and is not prohibited by the terms of the conveyance, dedication or devise of such grounds, may sell and convey any part of such burial gr…

There is hereby authorized the creation of permanent endowment funds for cemetery associations to be known as "permanent endowment funds," the income from which is to be annually spent by such cemetery associations, or their successors, in beautifying and maintaining cemeteries o…

No person desiring to organize, develop and operate a perpetual care cemetery in West Virginia after July 1, 1973, shall offer to sell or sell any burial lot, burial right, entombment right or columbarium right in such cemetery, without first establishing a permanent endowment tr…

The provisions of this article do not apply to: (1) Sales of property, goods and services subject to the provisions of article fourteen, chapter forty-seven of this code; (2) Sales of services by perpetual care cemeteries subject to the provisions of article five-a of this chapte…

No person shall operate or continue to operate any perpetual care cemetery in the State of West Virginia after July 1, 1973, without placing into a permanent endowment care fund $10 or ten percent of the gross sales proceeds, whichever is greater, received from the sale of any bu…

(a) Each cemetery company shall deposit into an interest bearing trust fund forty percent of the receipts from the sale of property, goods or services purchased pursuant to a preneed cemetery company contract including sales of opening and closing or interment services, when the …

The principal of such permanent endowment fund shall be invested in some safe securities, including government bonds, and corporate bonds that have been rated A or above to be approved by the board of directors of such cemetery association, or its successors, in the name of a tru…

The trustee of the permanent endowment care fund shall be a federally insured trust company or a federally insured banking institution with fiduciary powers authorized and qualified to exercise trust powers under and subject to the provisions of article four, chapter thirty-one-a…

A preneed cemetery company contract shall: (1) Be written in clear understandable language and printed in easy-to-read type, size and style; (2) Include the name and address of the seller, the contract buyer and the person for whom the contract is bought if other than the contrac…

The board of directors of any such cemetery association shall appoint a trustee, who shall be a responsible businessman or some solvent federally insured banking institution, to act as such trustee for a period of two years, or until his or its, successor is appointed. Such trust…

Any funds deposited in the trust account as required by section four of this article shall be identified in the records of the seller by the contract number and by the name of the buyer. The trustee may commingle the deposits in any preneed trust account for the purposes of the m…

This article does not apply to any private or family cemetery wherein lots or spaces are not offered for public sale or to any cemetery which is owned and operated entirely and exclusively by churches, religious societies, established fraternal organizations, municipalities or ot…

Express trusts may hereafter be created for the perpetual care, preservation, maintenance, improvement and/or embellishment of any cemetery or burial lot, public or private, and of the appurtenances of any such lot including the erection, repair, preservation and/or removal of ma…

The provisions and requirements of this article shall take precedence over and shall supersede any other provisions of this code which may be inconsistent therewith.

(a) Any cemetery company contract shall: (1) Be written in clear understandable language and printed in easy-to-read type, size and style; (2) Include the name and address of the seller, the contract buyer and the person for whom the contract is bought if other than the contract …

The corpus of the trust account shall remain intact until the property or goods are delivered or services performed as specified in the contract: Provided, That the net income from the preneed trust account may be used to pay any appropriate trustee and Auditor fees, commissions …

Any person and any officer, director, agent or employee of such person who violates or participates in the violation of this article shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $1,000, or imprisoned in the county jail not more than…

(a) A cemetery company contract may include a provision whereby interment rights that are not used for a period of seventy-five years or more shall be deemed abandoned if unclaimed and shall revert to the cemetery company if the procedures in subsection (b) are followed. (b) (1) …

(a) Upon performance of the preneed cemetery company contract, the seller shall certify to the trustee by affidavit the amount of specific funds in the trust, identified with the contract performed, which the trustee shall pay to the seller. The seller may in its records itemize …

Each seller of a preneed cemetery company contract shall record and keep detailed accounts of all contracts and transactions regarding preneed cemetery company contracts and the records shall be subject to examination by the Tax Commissioner.