(A) Without first securing a license from the department, no one, except a financial institution, may accept or hold payments made on a preneed funeral contract.

(1) The State Board of Funeral Service must revoke the license of a funeral home or funeral director, or both, if the funeral home or funeral director: (a) accepts funds for a preneed funeral contract or other prepayment of funeral expenses without a license to sell preneed funeral contracts, or (b) is licensed to sell preneed funeral contracts and fails to deposit the funds collected in trust in a federally insured account as required by Section 32-7-20(H).

(2) Application for a license must be in writing, signed by the applicant, and verified on forms furnished by the department. An application must contain at least the following: the full name and address, both residence and place of business, of the applicant and every member, officer, and director of it if the applicant is a firm, partnership, association, or corporation. A license issued pursuant to the application is valid only at the address stated in the application for the applicant or at a new address approved by the department.

(3) If a licensee cancels the license and later applies for a new license, the department shall investigate the applicant's books, records, and accounts to determine if the applicant violated the provisions of this chapter during the time he did not have a license.

(B) Upon receipt of the application, a one-time payment of a two hundred fifty dollar license fee, and the deposit in an amount to be determined by the department of the security or proof of financial responsibility as the department may determine, the department shall issue a license unless it determines that the applicant has made false statements or representations in the application, is insolvent, has conducted his business in a fraudulent manner, is not authorized to transact business in this State, or if, in the judgment of the department, the applicant should be denied a license for some other good and sufficient reason.

(C) A person selling a preneed funeral contract shall collect from each purchaser a service charge and all fees collected must be remitted by the person collecting them to the department at least once each month.

(1) With the fees collected, the person also must provide the department with a listing of each contract sold. If the listing or fees collected are not sent to the department within sixty days of the last day of the month when the contract was sold, the department shall assess a civil penalty of ten dollars for each contract not reported to the department. The monies collected as civil penalties must be deposited in the Preneed Funeral Loss Reimbursement Fund. Upon its own initiative or upon complaint or information received, the department shall investigate a person's books, records, and accounts if the department has reason to believe that fees are collected and either not remitted or not timely remitted.

(2) The service charge for each contract may not exceed a total of thirty dollars, twenty-five dollars for the department to use in administering the provisions of this chapter and five dollars to be allocated to the Preneed Funeral Loss Reimbursement Fund.

(3) The department shall keep a record of each preneed funeral contract for which it receives a service charge.

(D) A license issued pursuant to this section expires on September thirtieth of each odd-numbered year unless otherwise revoked or canceled. A license must be renewed by filing a renewal application at least thirty days prior to expiration on forms prescribed by the department. A renewal application must be accompanied by a fee of two hundred dollars for the department to use in administering this chapter. The department shall deposit one hundred dollars of each renewal fee received into the Preneed Funeral Loss Reimbursement Fund. The department shall consider the factors in subsection (B) before issuing a license.

HISTORY: 1962 Code Section 11-175; 1973 (58) 339; 1974 (58) 2636; 1989 Act No. 89, Section 1; 2004 Act No. 188, Section 3; 2009 Act No. 70, Section 1, eff July 1, 2009; 2012 Act No. 261, Section 3, eff June 18, 2012.

Effect of Amendment

The 2009 amendment substituted "department" for "board" throughout and made nonsubstantive changes.

The 2012 amendment inserted "two hundred fifty dollar" in subsection (B); added subsection (D); and, made other, nonsubstantive, changes.