7735-7746
BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONS CODE
SECTION 7735-7746
7735. No funeral establishment licensed under the laws of the State of California, or the agents or employees of a funeral establishment, shall enter into or solicit any preneed arrangement, contract, or plan, hereinafter referred to as "contract," requiring the payment to the licensee of money or the delivery to the licensee of securities to pay for the final disposition of human remains or for funeral services or for the furnishing of personal property or funeral merchandise, wherein the use or delivery of those services, property or merchandise is not immediately required, unless the contract requires that all money paid directly or indirectly and all securities delivered under that agreement or under any agreement collateral thereto, shall be held in trust for the purpose for which it was paid or delivered until the contract is fulfilled according to its terms; provided, however, that any payment made or securities deposited pursuant to this article shall be released upon the death of the person for whose benefit the trust was established as provided in Section 7737. The income from the trust may be used to pay for a reasonable annual fee for administering the trust, including a trustee fee to be determined by the bureau, and to establish a reserve of not to exceed 10 percent of the corpus of the trust as a revocation fee in the event of cancellation on the part of the beneficiary. The annual fee for trust administration may be recovered by withdrawals from accumulated trust income, provided that total withdrawals for this purpose shall not exceed the amount determined by the bureau. In no case shall the total amount withdrawn in a year for trust administration exceed the total amount of posted trust income for the immediate 12 preceding months. In addition to annual fees and reserves authorized by this section, a trustee may, at its election, pay taxes on the earnings on any trust pursuant to Section 17760.5 of the Revenue and Taxation Code. In no event, however, shall taxes paid on the earnings of any trust be considered part of the fees or reserves authorized by this section. All remaining income shall be accumulated in trust. None of the corpus of the trust shall be used for payment of any commission nor shall any of the corpus of the trust be used for other expenses of trust administration, or for the payment of taxes on the earnings of the trust. 7735.5. The preneed funeral arrangement contract shall clearly state if benefits are unavailable or limited for any reason. 7736. For the purposes of this article the term "trustee" shall mean any banking institution or trust company legally authorized and empowered by the State of California to act as trustee in the handling of trust funds or not less than three persons one of whom may be an employee of the funeral establishment; the word "trustor" shall mean any person who pays the money or deposits the securities used for those preneed arrangements; the term "beneficiary" shall be the person for whom the funeral services are arranged; the words "corpus of the trust" shall include all moneys paid and securities delivered by the trustor pursuant to the provisions of the article. 7737. All securities purchased by the trustor for deposit in trust and all money received from the trustor for deposit in trust shall be placed in trust with a trustee within 30 days of their receipt by the funeral establishment pursuant to a trust agreement executed by the funeral establishment, the trustor and trustee which shall provide that the trustee shall hold the money or securities in trust for the purposes for which deposited and that the trustee, upon the signature of a majority of such trustees, shall deliver the corpus of the trust to the funeral establishment upon the filing of a certified copy of the death certificate or other satisfactory evidence of the death of the beneficiary, together with satisfactory evidence that the funeral establishment has furnished the merchandise and services, provided, however, that (1) in the case of a trust agreement between any of the trustees set forth in Section 7736 and a recipient of public assistance, under the provisions of subdivision (a) of Section 11158 or paragraph (1) of subdivision (e) of Section 12152 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, and provided the value limitations of those sections are not exceeded, such trust agreement may further provide that it is irrevocable, and (2) in all other cases such trust agreement shall further provide that at any time before the funeral establishment has furnished the merchandise and services provided for in the contract the trustor or the legally appointed representative may in writing demand and receive the return of the corpus of the trust, together with any income accrued in the trust, less the revocation fee provided for in Section 7735; provided, however, that if and when the trustor becomes otherwise eligible, or in order to become eligible, for public social services, as provided in Division 9 (commencing with Section 10000) of the Welfare and Institutions Code, he or she may agree, at his or her option, that the trust shall be irrevocable in order to avail himself or herself of the provisions of Section 11158 or Section 12152 of the Welfare and Institutions Code. The delivery of the corpus of the trust and the accumulated income to the funeral establishment performing the services, trustor or beneficiary pursuant to the terms of this article and the trust agreement herein referred to, shall relieve the trustee of any further liabilities with regard to those funds or income therefrom. 7737.3. All commingled preneed trust funds held by a funeral establishment shall be subject to an annual, independent certified financial audit with a copy of the audit to be submitted to the bureau for review within 120 days of the close of the fund's fiscal year. Any findings of noncompliance with existing law regarding preneed trust funds shall be identified by the auditor in a separate report for review and action by the bureau. Audits and reports of noncompliance shall be filed simultaneously. 7737.5. A trustee may deposit the corpus of the trust in any financial institution insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. 7737.7. A trustee may deposit the corpus of the trust in any credit union which is insured by the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund. 7738. A licensed funeral establishment that is also a licensed cemetery authority shall not deposit any money or securities received in connection with preneed funeral arrangements in a special endowment care fund as provided in Article 4 (commencing with Section 8775) of Chapter 5 of Part 3 of Division 8 of the Health and Safety Code, nor shall a licensed funeral establishment permit the deposit of any money or securities received in connection with a special endowment care fund into a preneed funeral trust fund. Nothing in this section shall require the liquidation or conversion of any lawful investment existing on December 31, 1981. 7739. Any person willfully violating the provisions of this article or any of them shall be punishable either by imprisonment in the county jail for a period not exceeding six months, or by fine not exceeding five hundred dollars ($500), or by both imprisonment and fine, or by imprisonment in the state prison for 16 months, or two or three years. If the violator is a funeral establishment licensee, he or she shall also be subject to disciplinary action as provided in Article 6 (commencing with Section 7686). 7740. The bureau is authorized to enforce of its own initiative the provisions of this article and may adopt such rules and regulations as in its opinion may be necessary to perform such duties and to safeguard the trust funds subject to this chapter. 7740.5. A funeral establishment shall pay to the bureau the fee fixed by this chapter for filing with the bureau any report on preneed trust funds required by rules and regulations of the bureau adopted pursuant to Section 7740. 7741. Nothing in this article shall apply to cemetery property; cemetery commodities; cemetery service; or merchandise that is delivered as soon as paid for. 7742. Nothing in this article shall apply to any arrangement, contract or plan for the issuance of securities now or hereafter authorized under a permit of the Commissioner of Corporations of this state. 7745. Every funeral establishment shall present to the survivor of the deceased who is handling the funeral arrangements or the responsible party a copy of any preneed agreement which has been signed and paid for in full, or in part by, or on behalf of the deceased and is in the possession of the funeral establishment. The copy may be presented in person, by certified mail, or by facsimile transmission, as agreed upon by the survivor of the deceased or the responsible party. A funeral establishment that knowingly fails to present a preneed agreement to the survivor of the deceased or the responsible party shall be liable for a civil fine equal to three times the cost of the preneed agreement, or one thousand dollars ($1,000), whichever is greater. 7746. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a funeral establishment that is otherwise exempt from the requirement of filing an annual preneed trust report or whose preneed trust funds are reported in a combined preneed annual preneed trust report, shall annually file a declaration of nonreporting status with the bureau. (b) The declaration shall be filed on or before May 1 of each year and shall also be filed upon the transfer of ownership or the cessation of business. (c) The declaration shall be filed on a form provided by the bureau and shall include, but shall not be limited to, both of the following: (1) The basis upon which the funeral establishment is exempt from the annual trust reporting requirement. (2) The specific kind and nature of the exempt preneed arrangements, if any, in which the funeral establishment engages. (d) The declaration shall be verified by the funeral establishment' s owner, a partner, or in the case of a corporation, by the president or vice president.