As used in this article:

A. "funeral plan" means any contract, agreement, certificate, share, membership, right or interest or other form of instrument which is sold, providing for the future delivery of one or any combination of the following:

(1) any personal property customarily furnished in connection with funerals or other services attending the disposition of human bodies after death;

(2) the use of any facilities customarily furnished in connection with funerals or other services attending the disposition of human bodies after death;

(3) any services customarily furnished in connection with funerals or other services attending the disposition of human bodies after death; or

(4) any amount of money designated for any of the property, facilities or services mentioned in this subsection, if there is named in the instrument evidencing the prearranged funeral plan any person who furnishes or aids in the furnishing of any of such property, facilities or services or any condition or designation which designation would deprive or tend to deprive the person desiring to acquire such property, facilities or services of the advantages of competition in connection with their acquisition;

B. "funeral plan" shall not be construed to include the present sale of land for burial space, the sale of a lot, grave, crypt, niche or vault or the sale of the special care of any lot, grave, crypt or niche, or the family mausoleum, memorial, marker or monument, which is controlled under the provisions of the Endowed Care Cemetery Act of 1961 [Chapter 58, Article 17 NMSA 1978], provided that the seller thereof is in compliance with the provisions of that act, or which is specifically exempted from the provisions of this article;

C. "future delivery" means delivery which is or may be contingent upon the death of any person for whose benefit, or for the disposition of the remains of whom, the funeral plan was obtained. The fact that the instrument provides for the possibility of immediate delivery at the option of either party does not exclude the instrument from the provisions of this article, if the delivery contingent on death is a possible option;

D. "trustee" means any bank or savings and loan association located in New Mexico whose deposits or accounts are insured by an agency of the United States;

E. "depositor" means any person to whom money has been paid by or on behalf of a purchaser of a funeral plan and who is obligated under this article to place it in trust;

F. "beneficiary" shall be the person for whom a trust fund required by this article was established; and

G. "person" means any individual, estate, trust, receiver, association, cooperative, club, corporation, company, firm, partnership, joint venture or syndicate, and includes an officer or employee of a corporation, a member or employee of a partnership or any individual who, as such, is under a duty to perform any act or to refrain from any act by reason of which a violation occurs.

History: Laws 1984, ch. 127, § 902.

Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 43 Am. Jur. 2d Insurance § 8.

What constitutes insurance - burial expenses, 63 A.L.R. 723, 100 A.L.R. 1449, 119 A.L.R. 1241.