2023 Florida Statutes › Title XXXIII - Regulation of Trade, Commerce, Investments, and Solicitations › Chapter 497 - Funeral, Cemetery, and Consumer Services › Part II - Cemetery Regulation (Ss. 497.260-497.287) › 497.268 - Care and maintenance trust fund, percentage of payments for burial rights to be deposited.

497.268 Care and maintenance trust fund, percentage of payments for burial rights to be deposited.—
(1) Each cemetery company shall set aside and deposit in its care and maintenance trust fund the following percentages or amounts for all sums received from sales of burial rights:
(a) For burial rights, 10 percent of all payments received; however, for sales made after September 30, 1993, no deposit shall be less than $25 per burial right. For each burial right which is provided without charge, the deposit to the fund shall be $25.
(b) For general endowments for the care and maintenance of the cemetery, the full amount of sums received when received.
(c) For special endowments for a specific lot or grave or a family mausoleum, memorial, marker, or monument, the cemetery company may set aside the full amount received for this individual special care in a separate trust fund or by a deposit to a savings account in a bank or savings and loan association located within and authorized to do business in the state; however, if the licensee does not set up a separate trust fund or savings account for the special endowment, the full amount thereof shall be deposited into the care and maintenance trust fund as required of general endowments.
(2) Deposits to the care and maintenance trust fund shall be made by the cemetery company not later than 30 days following the close of the calendar month in which any payment was received; however, when such payments are received in installments, the percentage of the installment payment placed in trust must be identical to the percentage which the payment received bears to the total cost for the burial rights. Trust income may be used to pay for all usual and customary services for the operation of a trust account, including, but not limited to: reasonable trustee and custodian fees, investment adviser fees, allocation fees, and taxes. If the net income is not sufficient to pay the fees and other expenses, the fees and other expenses shall be paid by the cemetery company.
(3) Any payments made to the care and maintenance trust fund on contracts which are canceled shall be credited against future obligations to the care and maintenance trust fund, provided they have been refunded to the purchaser.
(4) When a cemetery which is exempt from the provisions of this chapter changes ownership so as to lose its exempt status, it shall establish and maintain a care and maintenance trust fund pursuant to this chapter. The initial deposit for establishment of this trust fund shall be $25 per space for all spaces either previously sold or contracted for sale in the cemetery at the time of conversion or $50,000, whichever is greater.
(5) In each sales contract, reservation, or agreement wherein burial rights are priced separately, the purchase price of the burial rights shall be the only item subject to care and maintenance trust fund deposits; but if the burial rights are not priced separately, the full amount of the contract, reservation, or agreement shall be subject to care and maintenance trust fund deposits as provided in this section, unless the purchase price of the burial rights can be determined from the accounting records of the cemetery company.
(6) If an installment contract or promissory note for the purchase of a burial space is sold or discounted to a third party, the entire amount due the care and maintenance trust fund shall be payable no later than 30 days following the close of the calendar month in which the contract was sold or discounted.
History.—s. 14, ch. 59-363; s. 8, ch. 65-288; s. 5, ch. 72-78; s. 3, ch. 76-168; s. 1, ch. 77-457; s. 10, ch. 78-407; ss. 20, 39, 40, ch. 80-238; s. 410, ch. 81-259; ss. 2, 3, ch. 81-318; s. 10, ch. 85-202; s. 1, ch. 89-8; ss. 65, 122, ch. 93-399; s. 11, ch. 96-400; s. 7, ch. 2000-195; s. 5, ch. 2001-120; s. 50, ch. 2004-301; s. 9, ch. 2016-172.
Note.—Former s. 559.43; s. 497.023; s. 497.245.