NOTES:

     Prearrangement funeral service contracts: RCW 18.39.240 through 18.39.360.

     (1) "Prearrangement contract" means a contract for purchase of cemetery merchandise or services, unconstructed crypts or niches, or undeveloped graves to be furnished at a future date for a specific consideration which is paid in advance by one or more payments in one sum or by installment payments.

     (2) "Cemetery authority" shall have the same meaning as in RCW 68.04.190, and shall also include any individual, partnership, firm, joint venture, corporation, company, association, or join [joint] stock company, any of which sells cemetery services or merchandise, unconstructed crypts or niches, or undeveloped graves through a prearrangement contract, but shall not include insurance companies licensed under chapter 48.05 RCW.

     (3) "Cemetery merchandise or services" and "merchandise or services" mean those services normally performed by cemetery authorities, including the sale of monuments, markers, memorials, nameplates, liners, vaults, boxes, urns, vases, interment services, or any one or more of them.

     (4) "Prearrangement trust fund" means all funds required to be maintained in one or more funds for the benefit of beneficiaries by either this chapter or by the terms of a prearrangement contract, as herein defined.

     (5) "Depository" means a qualified public depository as defined by *RCW 39.58.010, a credit union as governed by chapter 31.12 RCW, a mutual savings bank as governed by Title 32 RCW, a savings and loan association as governed by Title 33 RCW, and a federal credit union or a federal savings and loan association organized, operated, and governed by any act of congress, in which prearrangement funds are deposited by any cemetery authority.

     (6) "Board" means the cemetery board established under chapter 68.05 RCW or its authorized representative.

     (7) "Undeveloped grave" means any grave in an area which a cemetery authority has not landscaped and groomed to the extent customary in the cemetery industry in that community.

[1979 c 21 § 22; 1975 1st ex.s. c 55 § 1; 1973 1st ex.s. c 68 § 1.]

NOTES:

     *Reviser's note: RCW 39.58.010 was amended by 1996 c 256 § 1 and now defines the term "public depositary."

[1973 1st ex.s. c 68 § 2.]

     (a) Fifty percent of the contract price; or

     (b) The percentage which the total of the wholesale cost of merchandise and the direct cost of services to be provided pursuant to the contract is of the total contract price.

     (2) Any cemetery authority which does not file and maintain with the board a bond as provided in subsection (4) of this section shall deposit in its prearrangement trust fund fifty percent, or greater percentage as determined under subsection (1) of this section, of all moneys received in payment of each prearrangement contract, excluding sales tax and endowment care if such charge is made.

     (3) Any cemetery authority which files and maintains with the board a bond as provided in subsection (4) of this section shall deposit in its prearrangement trust fund each payment as made on the last fifty percent, or greater percentage as determined under subsection (1) of this section, of each prearrangement contract, excluding sales tax and endowment care, if such charge is made.

     (4) Each cemetery authority electing to make payments to its prearrangement trust fund pursuant to subsection (3) of this section shall file and maintain with the board a bond, issued by a surety company authorized to do business in the state, in the amount by which the cemetery authority's contingent liability for refunds pursuant to RCW 68.46.060 exceeds the amount deposited in its prearrangement trust fund. The bond shall run to the state and shall be conditioned that it is for the use and benefit of any person requesting a refund pursuant to RCW 68.46.060 if the cemetery authority does not promptly pay to said person the refund due pursuant to RCW 68.46.060. In addition to any other remedy, every person not promptly receiving the refund due pursuant to RCW 68.46.060 may sue the surety for the refund. The liability of the surety shall not exceed the amount of the bond. Termination or cancellation shall not be effective unless notice is delivered by the surety to the board at least thirty days prior to the date of termination or cancellation. The board shall immediately notify the cemetery authority affected by the termination or cancellation by certified mail, return receipt requested. The cemetery authority shall thereupon obtain another bond or make such other arrangement as may be satisfactory to the board to assure its ability to make refunds pursuant to RCW 68.46.060.

     (5) Deposits to the prearrangement trust fund shall be made not later than the twentieth day of each month following receipt of each payment required to be deposited. If a prearrangement contract is sold, pledged, or otherwise encumbered as security for a loan by the cemetery authority, the cemetery authority shall pay into the prearrangement trust fund fifty percent of the total sale price of the prearrangement contract within twenty days of receipt of payment of the proceeds from the sale or loan.

     (6) Any failure to fund a prearrangement contract as required by this section shall be grounds for revocation of the cemetery authority's prearrangement sales license.

[1984 c 53 § 3; 1979 c 21 § 24; 1973 1st ex.s. c 68 § 3.]

[1987 c 331 § 50; 1973 1st ex.s. c 68 § 4.]

     (a) If the cemetery authority files a verified statement with the depository that the prearrangement merchandise and services covered by a contract have been furnished and delivered in accordance therewith; or

     (b) If the cemetery authority files a verified statement that a specific prearrangement contract has been canceled in accordance with its terms.

     (2) The department of social and health services shall notify the cemetery authority maintaining a prearrangement trust fund regulated by this chapter that the department has a claim on the estate of a beneficiary for long-term care services. Such notice shall be renewed at least every three years. The cemetery authority upon becoming aware of the death of a beneficiary shall give notice to the department of social and health services, office of financial recovery, who shall file any claim there may be within thirty days of the notice.

[1995 1st sp.s. c 18 § 65; 1973 1st ex.s. c 68 § 5.]

NOTES:

     Conflict with federal requirements -- Severability -- Effective date -- 1995 1st sp.s. c 18: See notes following RCW 74.39A.030.

     (2) A cemetery authority which enters into prearrangement contracts for the sale of unconstructed crypts or niches or undeveloped graves or which conveys undeveloped graves by gift shall maintain an adequate inventory of constructed crypts or niches and developed graves which in quality are equal to or better than the unconstructed crypts or niches, or undeveloped graves if they were constructed or developed. In the event of the death of a purchaser or owner of an unconstructed crypt or niche or undeveloped grave before the unconstructed crypt or niche or undeveloped grave is constructed or developed the cemetery authority shall provide a constructed crypt or niche or developed grave of equal or better quality without additional cost or charge. If two or more unconstructed crypts or niches or undeveloped graves are conveyed with the intention that the crypts or niches or graves shall be contiguous to each other or maintained together as a group and the death of any one purchaser or owner in such group occurs before the unconstructed crypts or niches or undeveloped graves are developed, the cemetery authority shall provide additional constructed crypts or niches or developed graves of equal or better quality contiguous to each other or together as a group as originally intended to other purchasers or owners in the group without additional cost or charge.

[1984 c 53 § 8.]

[1987 c 331 § 51; 1984 c 53 § 4; 1979 c 21 § 25; 1973 1st ex.s. c 68 § 6.]

[1987 c 331 § 52; 1979 c 21 § 26; 1973 1st ex.s. c 68 § 7.]

[1979 c 21 § 27.]

[1973 1st ex.s. c 68 § 8.]

[1983 c 190 § 1; 1977 ex.s. c 351 § 5; 1973 1st ex.s. c 68 § 9.]

NOTES:

     Severability -- 1977 ex.s. c 351: See note following RCW 68.05.040.

     Every prearrangement contract shall contain language prominently featured on the face of the contract disclosing to the purchaser what items will be delivered before need, either stored or installed, and thus not subject to funding or refund.

     Every prearrangement contract for the sale of unconstructed crypts or niches or undeveloped graves and every conveyance instrument shall contain language which informs the purchaser that if the purchaser dies before the unconstructed crypt or niche or undeveloped grave is constructed or developed the cemetery authority must provide, without additional cost or charge, a constructed crypt or niche or developed grave of equal or better quality than the unconstructed crypt or niche or undeveloped grave would have been if it were constructed or developed.

[1987 c 331 § 53; 1984 c 53 § 5; 1973 1st ex.s. c 68 § 10.]

[1973 1st ex.s. c 68 § 11.]

[1987 c 331 § 54.]

     (1) Sells less than twenty prearrangement contracts per year; and

     (2) Deposits one hundred percent of all funds received into a trust fund under RCW 68.46.030, as now or hereafter amended.

[1979 c 21 § 43.]

[1979 c 21 § 40.]

     (1) Is in violation of any provision of this chapter;

     (2) Is misleading or deceptive; or

     (3) Is being used in connection with solicitation by false, misleading or deceptive advertising or sales practices.

     Use of a prearrangement contract form which is not on file with the board or which the board has ordered the cemetery authority not to use shall be a violation of this chapter.

[1979 c 21 § 38.]

[1979 c 21 § 23.]

See RCW 68.05.900.