HB 945 -- Endowed Care Cemeteries

Sponsor:  Wells

This bill changes the laws regarding endowed care cemeteries.  In
its main provisions, the bill:

(1)  Allows the Division of Professional Registration within the
Department of Insurance, Financial Institutions and Professional
Registration to bring suit in Cole County against cemetery
operators;

(2)  Requires all contracts sold by cemetery operators for
cemetery services or for graves, cemetery markers, and crypts to
meet certain requirements;

(3)  Requires any person or entity with real property used for
the burial of human remains, excluding family burial grounds, to
notify the Office of Endowed Care Cemeteries within the
department of the name, location, and address of the real estate
before October 1, 2009, or within 30 days of acquiring the land;

(4)  Exempts cemetery operators from the provisions of
Chapter 436, RSMo, relating to prearranged funeral contracts but
prohibits them from adjusting or establishing prices for items
with the intent of evading the trust or escrow provisions of the
chapter;

(5)  Removes the provisions requiring a financial institution
serving as the trustee of an endowed care trust to be located in
Missouri.  All activities of the trust must be controlled by
Missouri law, and all funds held in trust must remain in
Missouri;

(6)  Requires cemetery operators to notify the division in
writing at least 30 days prior to ceasing to do business and
selling a majority of their assets.  Operators are required to
place 15% of the purchased amount in escrow for at least six
months in order to determine whether there are any financial
deficiencies;

(7)  Allows cemetery prearranged merchandise products contracts
to be canceled and fully refunded within 30 days after the
contract has been executed;

(8)  Allows the division to direct trustees to suspend the
distribution of money from endowed care trust funds if the
cemetery operator is not licensed, has failed to file annual
reports, doesn't respond to inquires, or has failed to file a
corrective action plan; and

(9)  Specifies that anyone who knowingly and unlawfully destroys,
mutilates, disfigures, defaces, or removes without authorization
any human remains from a cemetery or burial ground or other place
of interment, entombment, or inurnment will be guilty of a class
A misdemeanor.

Missouri House of Representatives
95th General Assembly, 1st Regular Session
Last Updated November 17, 2009 at 9:26 am