As used in this chapter, unless the context requires otherwise:

(1) "Administrator" means the Administrator of the South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs.

(2) "At need" means after the beneficiary is deceased, and "at preneed" means before the beneficiary is deceased.

(3) "Beneficiary" means the person who is to be the subject of the disposition, services, facilities, or merchandise described in a preneed funeral contract.

(4) "Common trust fund" means a trust in which the proceeds of more than one funeral contract may be held by the trustee.

(5) "Department" means the South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs.

(6) "Financial institution" means a bank, trust company, or savings and loan association authorized by law to do business in this State.

(7) "Funeral services" or "funeral arrangements" means any of the following:

(a) engaging in providing shelter, care, and custody of the human dead;

(b) preparing the human dead by embalming or other methods for burial or other disposition; or

(c) engaging in the practice or performing any functions of funeral directing or embalming as presently recognized by persons engaged in these functions.

(8) "Preneed funeral contract" means a contract which has for its purpose the furnishing or performance of funeral services or the furnishing or delivery of personal property, merchandise, or services of any nature in connection with the final disposition of a dead human body to be furnished or delivered at a time determinable by the death of the person whose body is to be disposed of, but does not mean the furnishing of a cemetery lot, crypt, niche, mausoleum, grave marker, or monument.

(9) "Provider" means a funeral home licensed in this State which is the entity providing services and merchandise pursuant to a preneed funeral contract and is designated trustee of all funds.

(10) "Purchaser" means the person who is obligated to make payments under a preneed funeral contract.

(11) "Seller" means a licensed funeral director in this State who is directly employed by the provider.

(12) "Trust account" means a federally insured account where the funds shall be paid to a provider only when the provider furnishes the financial institution with a certified certificate of death and a certified statement that the services have been performed and the merchandise has been delivered.

HISTORY: 1962 Code Section 11-171; 1973 (58) 339; 1989 Act No. 89, Section 1; 1992 Act No. 284, Section 1; 2009 Act No. 70, Section 1, eff July 1, 2009; 2012 Act No. 261, Section 1, eff June 18, 2012.

Effect of Amendment

The 2009 amendment added definitions of "Administrator" and "Department", deleted the definition of "Board", and reordered the definitions alphabetically.

The 2012 amendment inserted definitions for "at need", "funeral services", and "trust account"; renumbered the items accordingly, and made other nonsubstantive changes.