RCW 68.44.010
Funds authorized -- Investments.
Any cemetery authority not exempt under chapter 68.40 RCW shall establish,
maintain, and operate an inviolable endowment care fund. Endowment care, special
care, and other cemetery authorities' endowment care funds may be commingled for
investment and the income therefrom shall be divided between the funds in the
proportion that each contributed to the sum invested. The funds shall be held in
the name of the trustees appointed by the cemetery authority with the words
"endowment care fund" being a part of the name.
[1987 c 331 § 41; 1953 c 290 § 11; 1943 c 247 § 105; Rem. Supp. 1943 §
3778-105.]
RCW 68.44.020
Use and care of funds.
Endowment care funds shall not be used for any purpose other than to
provide, through income only, for the endowment care stipulated in the
instrument by which the fund was established, and shall be kept separate and
distinct from all assets of the cemetery authority. The principal shall forever
remain inviolable and may not be reduced in any way not found within RCW
11.100.020.
[1987 c 331 § 42; 1953 c 290 § 12. Prior: (i) 1943 c 247 § 106; Rem. Supp.
1943 § 3778-106. (ii) 1943 c 247 § 126; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-126.]
RCW 68.44.030
Authorized investments.
Endowment care funds shall be kept invested in accordance with the
provisions of RCW 11.100.020 subject to the following restrictions:
(1) No officer or director of the cemetery
authority, trustee of the endowment care or special care funds, or spouse,
sibling, parent, grandparent, or issue of such officer, director, or trustee,
shall borrow any of such funds for himself, directly or indirectly.
(2) No funds shall be loaned to the cemetery
authority, its agents, or employees, or to any corporation, partnership, or
other business entity in which the cemetery authority has any ownership
interest.
(3) No funds shall be invested with persons or
business entities operating in a business field directly related to cemeteries,
including, but not limited to, mortuaries, monument production and sales,
florists, and rental of funeral facilities.
(4) Notwithstanding any other provisions contained
in this section, funds may be invested in any commercial bank, mutual savings
bank, or savings and loan association duly chartered and operating under the
laws of the United States or statutes of the state of Washington.
[1985 c 30 § 138. Prior: 1984 c 149 § 175; 1979 c 21 § 19; 1953 c 290 §
13; 1943 c 247 § 127; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-127.]
NOTES:
Short title -- Application -- Purpose --
Severability -- 1985 c 30: See RCW 11.02.900 through 11.02.903.
Severability -- Effective dates -- 1984 c
149: See notes following RCW 11.02.005.
RCW 68.44.060
Unauthorized loans -- Penalty.
Every director or officer authorizing or consenting to a loan, and the
person who receives a loan, in violation of RCW 68.44.030
are severally guilty of a class C felony punishable under chapter 9A.20 RCW.
[1984 c 53 § 2; 1943 c 247 § 133; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-133.]
RCW 68.44.070
Purpose of endowment care -- Validity.
The endowment care and special care funds and all payments or contributions
thereto are hereby expressly permitted for charitable and eleemosynary purposes.
Endowment care and such contributions are provisions for the discharge of a duty
from the persons contributing to the persons interred and to be interred in the
cemetery and provisions for the benefit and protection of the public by
preserving and keeping cemeteries from becoming unkempt and places of reproach
and desolation in the communities in which they are situated. No payment, or
contribution for general endowment care, is invalid by reason of any
indefiniteness or uncertainty of the persons designated as beneficiaries in the
instruments creating the trust, nor is the fund or any contribution to it
invalid as violating any law against perpetuities, or the suspension of the
power of alienation of title to property.
[1953 c 290 § 16. Prior: (i) 1943 c 247 § 130; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-130.
(ii) 1943 c 247 § 117; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-117.]
RCW 68.44.080
Plans for care -- Source of fund.
The cemetery authority may from time to time adopt plans for the general
care, maintenance, and embellishment of its cemetery, and charge and collect
from all purchasers of plots such reasonable sum as it deems will aggregate a
fund, the reasonable income from which will provide care, maintenance, and
embellishment on an endowment basis.
[1953 c 290 § 17; 1943 c 247 § 108; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-108.]
RCW 68.44.090
Covenant to care for cemetery.
Upon payment of the purchase price and the amount fixed as a proportionate
contribution for endowment care, there may be included in the deed of conveyance
or by separate instrument, an agreement to care, in accordance with the plan
adopted, for the cemetery and its appurtenances on an endowment basis to the
proportionate extent the income received by the cemetery authority from the
contribution will permit.
[1953 c 290 § 18; 1943 c 247 § 109; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-109.]
RCW 68.44.100
Agreement by owner to care for plot.
Upon the application of an owner of a plot, and upon the payment by him of
the amount fixed as a reasonable and proportionate contribution for endowment
care, a cemetery authority may enter into an agreement with him for the care of
his plot and its appurtenances.
[1953 c 290 § 19; 1943 c 247 § 110; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-110.]
RCW 68.44.110
Trustees of fund.
Unless an association of lot owners has been created for the purpose of
appointing trustees, the cemetery authority shall appoint a board of not less
than three members as trustees for its endowment care fund, who shall hold
office subject to the direction of the cemetery authority.
[1987 c 331 § 43; 1953 c 290 § 20; 1943 c 247 § 111; Rem. Supp. 1943 §
3778-111.]
RCW 68.44.115
Trustee to file statement with board -- Resignation of trusteeship.
To be considered qualified as a trustee, each trustee of an endowment care
fund appointed in accordance with this chapter shall file with the board a
statement of acceptance of fiduciary responsibility, on a form approved by the
board, before assuming the duties of trustee. The trustee shall remain in the
trustee's fiduciary capacity until such time as the trustee advises the cemetery
board in writing of the trustee's resignation of trusteeship.
[1987 c 331 § 44.]
RCW 68.44.120
Directors as trustees -- Secretary.
The directors of a cemetery authority may be the trustees of its endowment
care fund. When the fund is in the care of the directors as a board of trustees
the secretary of the cemetery authority shall act as its secretary and keep a
true record of all of its proceedings.
[1987 c 331 § 45; 1953 c 290 § 21; 1943 c 247 § 112; Rem. Supp. 1943 §
3778-112.]
RCW 68.44.130
Bank or trust company as trustee.
In lieu of the appointment of a board of trustees of its endowment care
fund, any cemetery authority may appoint as sole trustee of its endowment care
fund any bank or trust company qualified to engage in the trust business, and
said bank or trust company shall be authorized to receive and accept said fund,
including any accumulated endowment care fund in existence at the time of its
appointment.
[1987 c 331 § 46; 1943 c 247 § 113; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-113.]
RCW 68.44.140
Compensation of trustees.
Compensation to the board of trustees or trustee for services as trustee and
other compensation for administration of trust funds shall not exceed in the
aggregate the customary fees charged by banks and trust companies for like
services. Such fees may not be paid from the fund principal.
[1987 c 331 § 47; 1979 c 21 § 20; 1943 c 247 § 114; Rem. Supp. 1943 §
3778-114.]
RCW 68.44.150
Annual report of condition of fund.
The cemetery authority or the trustees in whose names the funds are held
shall, annually, and within ninety days after the end of the calendar or fiscal
year of the cemetery authority, make and keep on file for seven years a true and
correct written report, verified on oath by an officer of the cemetery authority
or by the oath of one or more of the trustees, showing the actual financial
condition of the funds.
[1987 c 331 § 48; 1979 c 21 § 21; 1943 c 247 § 115; Rem. Supp. 1943 §
3778-115.]
RCW 68.44.160
Contributions.
A cemetery authority which has established an endowment care fund may take
and hold, as a part of or incident to the fund, any property, real, personal, or
mixed, bequeathed, devised, granted, given, or otherwise contributed to it for
its endowment care fund.
[1953 c 290 § 22; 1943 c 247 § 116; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-116.]
RCW 68.44.170
Use of income from fund.
The income from the endowment care fund shall be used solely for the general
care, maintenance, and embellishment of the cemetery, and shall be applied in
such manner as the cemetery authority may from time to time determine to be for
the best interest of the cemetery.
[1953 c 290 § 23; 1943 c 247 § 107; Rem. Supp. 1943 § 3778-107.]
RCW 68.44.180
Certain cemeteries exempt from chapter.
This chapter does not apply to any cemetery controlled and operated by a
coroner, county, city, town, or cemetery district.
[1987 c 331 § 49.]
RCW 68.44.900
Effective date -- 1987 c 331.
See RCW 68.05.900.