reglab/statecodes huggingface dataset:
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 35. Property of Religious, Educational and Charitable Organizations › Article 3. Homes and Asylums of Fraternal Orders › §35-3-1. Acquisition of Real Estate by Unincorporated Grand Lodges; Maximum Quantity; Exemption From Taxation

It shall be lawful for the grand lodges of the Knights of Pythias, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Junior Order United American Mechanics, Improved Order of Red Men, and other organizations of like character, to acquire by purchase, devise or gift, and hold the same for the purpose of establishing, erecting, and maintaining thereon homes or asylums for the care and support of orphans and widows of deceased members, and of disabled and aged members of said organizations in indigent circumstances, respectively, such quantity of real estate within this state, as shall be necessary, not exceeding five hundred acres of land in the aggregate, upon which to erect, construct and maintain such buildings as may be necessary to care for and maintain therein and thereon all such persons as may be eligible to admission thereto; and all of such land to be cultivated, or otherwise utilized, for the benefit and support of such homes or asylums. The real estate thus acquired together with such personal property as may be needed in the administration of the affairs of said homes or asylums shall be exempt from every species of taxation as long as used for the purpose of such homes or asylums.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 35. Property of Religious, Educational and Charitable Organizations › Article 3. Homes and Asylums of Fraternal Orders › §35-3-2. Regulations and Boards for Government

Any such grand lodge desiring to establish a home or asylum shall adopt and prescribe such rules and regulations for the government and control thereof as may be deemed wise by such grand body; and it shall appoint a board of directors, trustees, regents or commissioners, composed of a specified number of persons from its own membership, not fewer than seven nor more than eleven, to serve for definite periods; and any such grand lodge may select for each of such boards two members from the associate branches of the orders, known as Pythian Sisters, Rebekahs, Eastern Star, or other like organizations, as the case may be. Such board shall have the management and control of the home or asylum for which it is appointed, under the prescribed rules and regulations adopted by said body for the government thereof. Such board of directors, trustees, regents or commissioners shall organize by the election of a president, secretary and treasurer, and, if necessary or expedient, an executive committee, all from its own membership.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 35. Property of Religious, Educational and Charitable Organizations › Article 3. Homes and Asylums of Fraternal Orders › §35-3-5. Incorporated Grand Lodges May Establish Homes or Asylums

Any grand lodge enumerated in this article, or any similar grand lodge, heretofore or hereafter incorporated as such grand lodge under the laws of this state, shall be authorized and empowered to take by purchase, gift, devise or otherwise, land not to exceed five hundred acres for the purpose of establishing and maintaining homes or asylums for orphans, widows, aged and indigent members and dependents, and in and under its corporate name may hold or dispose of such land under such regulations and restrictions as said grand lodge may prescribe.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 35. Property of Religious, Educational and Charitable Organizations › Article 3. Homes and Asylums of Fraternal Orders › §35-3-6. Provisions of Article Not to Apply to Organizations Connected With Churches

Nothing in this article contained shall authorize the incorporation of any society or organization connected directly or indirectly with any church, religious sect or denomination, and nothing in this article contained shall authorize any society or organization, connected directly or indirectly with any church, religious sect, society, or denomination to have or acquire any real estate.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 35. Property of Religious, Educational and Charitable Organizations › Article 3. Homes and Asylums of Fraternal Orders › §35-3-7. Enticement of Residents Away From Fraternal Home; Harboring or Influencing Inmate to Violate Rules; Improper Intercourse With Female Resident of Home

Any person who shall entice or attempt to entice away from any home maintained or kept by any of the fraternal organizations specified in section one of this article, or any other organization of like character, any resident of any such home; or shall aid or abet any resident of any such home to leave the same without proper authority; or shall harbor, conceal or aid or abet in harboring or concealing any resident of any such home who shall have left such home without proper authority; or shall in any way knowingly cause or influence or knowingly attempt to cause or influence any resident in any such home to violate any rule of the home, or to rebel against the government of the home in any particular; or shall have or attempt to have any improper or unlawful communication or intercourse with any female resident of such home, knowing her to be a resident thereof, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than $10 nor more than $500, or imprisoned not exceeding one year, or, in the discretion of the court, both fined and imprisoned.
If any person shall aid or abet the commission of any of the offenses named in this section, or aid or abet an attempt to commit the same, he shall be punished as herein provided the same as if he were the principal. In the trial of any indictment for committing any of the offenses named in this section, the accused may be found guilty of an attempt to commit the same, or of aiding or abetting another in committing or attempting to commit the same.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 35. Property of Religious, Educational and Charitable Organizations › Article 4. Provisions Regarding Particular Fraternal Organizations › §35-4-1. Disposition of Property of Subordinate Lodge of Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias or Order of Eagles

If any subordinate lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Order Knights of Pythias or Fraternal Order of Eagles, in this state, working under the respective jurisdiction of the parent grand lodge of said respective orders, for this state, shall disband, surrender or forfeit its charter and cease to work, all its property, real and personal, shall, immediately upon such disbanding, surrender or forfeiture, vest in the said respective parent grand lodge, having jurisdiction over said subordinate lodge, to be held by that body for the charitable uses of the said respective parent grand lodge, in this state, according to the rules, regulations and policy of the grand lodge concerned, and said respective parent grand lodge is authorized in its corporate name, to sue for and recover such property, real and personal.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 35. Property of Religious, Educational and Charitable Organizations › Article 5. Cemeteries › §35-5-1. Appointment of New Trustees for Burial Grounds

Where any conveyance, dedication or devise was made of land for burial grounds, to any church, religious sect, society, congregation or denomination, or to any benevolent, fraternal, patriotic, literary, temperance, or charitable society, order, lodge or association, that has dissolved or become extinct in the county and vicinity where such burial grounds are situated, and the trustees of same have removed or died, the circuit court of such county, upon the application of five or more persons having relatives buried in such burial grounds, shall appoint five trustees, who for the time being and their successors shall be invested with all the powers necessary to promote and carry out the object and purposes named in such conveyance, dedication or devise.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 35. Property of Religious, Educational and Charitable Organizations › Article 5. Cemeteries › §35-5-2. Sale of Part of Cemetery; Prohibitions

The trustees of any burial grounds, or any incorporated cemetery association whenever it is deemed advisable by such trustees or association, and is not prohibited by the terms of the conveyance, dedication or devise of such grounds, may sell and convey any part of such burial grounds or land of such association, without restriction as to its use, if such sale and conveyance will not render any lot previously sold for burial purposes inaccessible for such purposes, or detach it from the main body of the cemetery. But no such sale shall be made by such trustees or such association unless authorized by a majority of the lot owners present and voting at a general meeting or special meeting, of which meeting and its object previous notice shall be given by advertising the same as Class II legal advertisement in compliance with the provisions of article three, chapter fifty-nine of this code, and the publication area for such publication shall be the county in which the cemetery is situated. No desecration shall be made of any grave or monument, or any of the walks, drives, trees, or shrubbery within the enclosure of any burial grounds; nor shall any shaft or entry be made within the enclosure of such burial grounds, or any building be erected therein for any purpose whatever other than cemetery purposes.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 35. Property of Religious, Educational and Charitable Organizations › Article 5. Cemeteries › §35-5-3. Permanent Endowment Funds for Cemetery Associations -- How Created

There is hereby authorized the creation of permanent endowment funds for cemetery associations to be known as "permanent endowment funds," the income from which is to be annually spent by such cemetery associations, or their successors, in beautifying and maintaining cemeteries owned or controlled by such associations. The "permanent endowment funds" are to be created by depositing in such funds all permanent funds derived from all sources set apart by the board of directors of such associations, and by donations, gifts and bequests made to such cemetery associations for such purpose.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 35. Property of Religious, Educational and Charitable Organizations › Article 5. Cemeteries › §35-5-4. Same — How Invested; Report of Trustee; Disposition of Income

The principal of such permanent endowment fund shall be invested in some safe securities, including government bonds, and corporate bonds that have been rated A or above to be approved by the board of directors of such cemetery association, or its successors, in the name of a trustee appointed as hereinafter provided. Such trustee shall make an annual report to the board of directors of such cemetery association showing the amount of the permanent endowment fund at the beginning of each year, the names of the donors, if any, and the amounts contributed by each during the year in which the report is made, the income derived from such fund during the year, and the amount on hand at the end of the year; and a copy of such report shall be filed with the clerk of the county court of the county in which such cemetery association is located. The trustee during the year, or at the end thereof, shall turn over to such cemetery association, or its successor, all income derived from such permanent endowment fund during the year, which shall be expended in accordance with this article.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 35. Property of Religious, Educational and Charitable Organizations › Article 5. Cemeteries › §35-5-5. Permanent Endowment Funds for Cemetery Associations -- Trustee Therefor; Appointment; Bond; Compensation; Vacancy

The board of directors of any such cemetery association shall appoint a trustee, who shall be a responsible businessman or some solvent federally insured banking institution, to act as such trustee for a period of two years, or until his or its, successor is appointed. Such trustee shall be known as the trustee of the permanent endowment fund of such cemetery association, and shall immediately upon his or its, appointment and acceptance of the trust, give bond to the said cemetery association, with some solvent and reliable bonding company authorized to do business in this state, in a sum equal to the amount which may come into the hands of such trustee, which bond shall be increased or diminished from time to time so as always to equal at least the amount of the trust funds in the hands of such trustee; and the premium upon such bond shall be paid out of the income of the trust funds in the trustee's hands and as part of the cost of the administration of the trust fund. No trustee appointed under this section shall enter upon the discharge of his or its, duties until such bond is given and approved by the board of directors of such cemetery association: Provided, That if the trustee so appointed by any such cemetery association be a federally insured banking institution authorized and qualified to exercise trust powers under and subject to the provisions of article four, chapter thirty-one-a of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, it shall not be required to give the bond hereinbefore provided, excepting and unless required by the provisions of section eighteen, article four, chapter thirty-one-a of said code. The board of directors of such cemetery association shall allow such trustee, for service as such, a negotiable, reasonable fee to be paid from such trust funds. In the event of a vacancy in such trusteeship, or failure of the board of directors of any such cemetery association to appoint such trustee, after being requested so to do by any stockholder of any such cemetery association, or its successor, or any citizen interested, application may be made to the circuit court of the county wherein such cemetery association is located, and it shall be the duty of the circuit court of such county to appoint a trustee, who, when so appointed and qualified, shall have all the powers and perform all the duties of such trustee as provided in this section.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 35. Property of Religious, Educational and Charitable Organizations › Article 5. Cemeteries › §35-5-6. Express Trusts for Perpetual Care of Cemeteries or Burial Lots

Express trusts may hereafter be created for the perpetual care, preservation, maintenance, improvement and/or embellishment of any cemetery or burial lot, public or private, and of the appurtenances of any such lot including the erection, repair, preservation and/or removal of mausoleums, tombs, monuments, gravestones, fences, railings, walks, and/or other structure or structures thereon, and the planting, trimming, watering and/or removing of any tree, shrub or other plant or plants thereon. Any such trust heretofore created shall be valid. Any such trust whether created heretofore or hereafter, may provide for the accumulation of income for any of the aforesaid purposes, but if and when the accumulations so authorized exceed the replacement cost of all structures upon such lot, the trustee of such trust may, either with or without authorization of any court having jurisdiction in the premises, divert the excess thereover to the general upkeep of the cemetery. Any person or any association of persons or corporation authorized by the laws of this state to act as trustee, may serve as trustee of any such trust. The funds in any such trust shall be invested in the manner provided in the instrument creating same, but, in the absence of any such provisions, in the manner provided by article six, chapter forty- four of the Code of West Virginia, 1931.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 35. Property of Religious, Educational and Charitable Organizations › Article 5. Cemeteries › §35-5-7. Requirements for Cemetery Company Contracts

(a) Any cemetery company contract shall:
(1) Be written in clear understandable language and printed in easy-to-read type, size and style;
(2) Include the name and address of the seller, the contract buyer and the person for whom the contract is bought if other than the contract buyer;
(3) Contain a complete description of the property, goods or services bought, including an itemization of the retail price of the property, goods or services bought and, specifically, the retail price of the monument, marker, installation, foundation, the opening and closing of the grave site and any other charges. Failure to provide this information is a violation of subsection (f), section one hundred two, article six, chapter forty-six-a of this code, relating to unfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts or practices;
(4) Clearly disclose whether the retail price of the property, goods or services bought is guaranteed;
(5) Provide that when the particular property, goods or services specified in the contract are unavailable at the time of delivery, the seller shall furnish property, goods or services similar in size, style and equal in quality of material and workmanship, and that the representative of the deceased has the right to reasonably choose the property, goods or services to be substituted; and
(6) Be executed in duplicate and a signed copy given to the buyer.
(b) For purposes of this article, the following words and phrases have the following meanings:
(1) "Cemetery company" or "seller" means any person, partnership, firm or corporation engaged in the business of operating a cemetery or selling property, goods or services used in connection with interring or disposing of the remains or commemorating the memory of a deceased human being.
(2) "Cemetery company contract" means a contract for the sale of real and personal property, goods or services used in connection with interring or disposing of the remains or commemorating the memory of a deceased human being.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 35. Property of Religious, Educational and Charitable Organizations › Article 5. Cemeteries › §35-5-8. Abandoned Interment Rights

(a) A cemetery company contract may include a provision whereby interment rights that are not used for a period of seventy-five years or more shall be deemed abandoned if unclaimed and shall revert to the cemetery company if the procedures in subsection (b) are followed.
(b) (1) Prior to deeming an owner's interment rights abandoned, a cemetery company shall send notice of such intent to the owner of record, his or her heirs or assigns or any next of kin, by a registered letter, return receipt requested, at the owner's last known address requesting the owner's current address or the names and addresses of the heirs or assigns of the owner of record. If a written response is received, then the records of the cemetery company shall be amended accordingly and the interment rights shall be maintained for seventy-five years from the date the written response was received by the cemetery company.
(2) If the registered letter is undeliverable or if no response is received within thirty days after the registered letter was sent, then the cemetery company shall advertise a notice of its intent to declare the interment rights abandoned in a newspaper of general circulation in the county where the cemetery is located and also in the county of the last known address of the owner of record, which notice shall contain the name and business address of the cemetery and the name of the last owner of record. If no response to the newspaper notice is made on behalf of the owner of record or his or her heirs or assigns within one hundred twenty days, then the interment rights shall be deemed abandoned and shall revert to the cemetery company. Upon the reversion of interment rights to the cemetery company, the cemetery company shall amend its records accordingly and maintain these records for thirty years. If a written response is received, then the records of the cemetery company shall be amended accordingly and the interment rights shall be maintained for seventy-five years from the date the written response was received by the cemetery company.
(c) If, within thirty years after the interment rights have been declared abandoned, the owner of record or his or her heirs or assigns can prove to a cemetery company or a court of competent jurisdiction that he or she would be entitled to the interment rights of the owner of record if those rights had not reverted to the cemetery company as provided for by this section, then the cemetery company shall, at no cost, provide a right of interment similar to the one that was deemed abandoned.
(d) The provisions of this section shall take effect on July 1, 1999, and shall not be construed to apply retroactively.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 35. Property of Religious, Educational and Charitable Organizations › Article 5A. Perpetual Care of and Trust Funds for Cemeteries › §35-5A-1. Definitions

The following words and phrases as used in this article, unless a different meaning is clearly indicated by the context, shall have the following meanings:
(a) "Person" means any corporation, company, partnership, individual, association or other entity owning or operating a cemetery for the disposition of human remains.
(b) "Perpetual care cemetery" means a cemetery which advertises or represents to the public in any manner that it provides perpetual care or maintenance for burial grounds, mausoleums or columbaria and the fixtures attached thereto or which sells or offers to sell any interment right which is to be perpetually cared for or maintained.
(c) "Interment" means the disposition of human remains by earth burial, entombment or inurnment.
(d) "Burial right" means the right of earth interment.
(e) "Entombment right" means the right of entombment in a mausoleum.
(f) "Columbarium right" means the right of inurnment in a columbarium for cremated remains.
(g) "Permanent endowment care fund" means a fund held in an irrevocable trust separate and apart from all other assets of the cemetery and dedicated for the exclusive use of perpetual care and maintenance of such cemetery.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 35. Property of Religious, Educational and Charitable Organizations › Article 5A. Perpetual Care of and Trust Funds for Cemeteries › §35-5A-2. Objects and Purposes

No person shall operate or continue to operate a perpetual care cemetery in West Virginia unless a permanent endowment care fund has been established, maintained and administered as required by this article. The income from the permanent endowment care fund so established shall be used only as permitted by this article.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 35. Property of Religious, Educational and Charitable Organizations › Article 5A. Perpetual Care of and Trust Funds for Cemeteries › §35-5A-3. Establishment of Permanent Endowment Care Funds

No person desiring to organize, develop and operate a perpetual care cemetery in West Virginia after July 1, 1973, shall offer to sell or sell any burial lot, burial right, entombment right or columbarium right in such cemetery, without first establishing a permanent endowment trust fund, segregated from all other assets, and placing therein a minimum of $10,000 in cash, or in bonds of the United States government or of the State of West Virginia.
Whenever any such person has placed an additional $10,000 in the permanent endowment care fund out of gross sales proceeds or from any other source, such person after submitting satisfactory proof of this fact to its trustee may withdraw the original sum of $10,000 from the permanent endowment care fund.
No person operating an established perpetual care cemetery in West Virginia on or before July 1, 1973, shall continue to operate such cemetery without creating a permanent endowment fund and making regular deposits to such fund as required in section four of this article and entrusting the administration of such fund as required in section five of this article.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 35. Property of Religious, Educational and Charitable Organizations › Article 5A. Perpetual Care of and Trust Funds for Cemeteries › §35-5A-4. Additional Funding of Permanent Endowment Care Funds

No person shall operate or continue to operate any perpetual care cemetery in the State of West Virginia after July 1, 1973, without placing into a permanent endowment care fund $10 or ten percent of the gross sales proceeds, whichever is greater, received from the sale of any burial right or lot and not less than five percent of the gross sales proceeds from the sale of any entombment right or columbarium right. This sum shall be placed in the permanent endowment care fund not later than thirty days following the month in which the entire gross sales proceeds are received.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 35. Property of Religious, Educational and Charitable Organizations › Article 5A. Perpetual Care of and Trust Funds for Cemeteries › §35-5A-6. Cemeteries Exempted

This article does not apply to any private or family cemetery wherein lots or spaces are not offered for public sale or to any cemetery which is owned and operated entirely and exclusively by churches, religious societies, established fraternal organizations, municipalities or other subdivisions of the state or a national cemetery.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 35. Property of Religious, Educational and Charitable Organizations › Article 5A. Perpetual Care of and Trust Funds for Cemeteries › §35-5A-8. Penalties for Violation

Any person and any officer, director, agent or employee of such person who violates or participates in the violation of this article shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $1,000, or imprisoned in the county jail not more than one year, or both fined and imprisoned.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 35. Property of Religious, Educational and Charitable Organizations › Article 5B. Preneed Cemetery Company Property, Goods and Services; Related Contracts › §35-5B-2. Information Filing; Fees, Compliance Agent

On or after July 1, 1993, no person, partnership, firm or corporation may engage in the business of operating a cemetery company in this state without having first paid an annual registration fee established by the Tax Commissioner in an amount not to exceed $400, and filing with the Tax Commissioner certain information which shall include the name and addresses of all officers, owners and directors of the cemetery company and the name of the designated compliance agent. The cemetery company shall notify the Tax Commissioner of any changes in the information required to be filed within ninety days of the date on which the change occurs. A new filing shall also be required if there is a change in the ownership of the cemetery company or if there is a change in the name of the compliance agent designated by the cemetery company. The cemetery company shall pay an additional fee as established by the commissioner in connection with the reporting of such changes, not to exceed $100. There is hereby created in the State Treasury a special account to be known as the "cemetery company account" into which all fees collected under this article shall be deposited: Provided, That amounts collected which are found from time to time to exceed funds needed for the purposes set forth in this article may be transferred to other accounts or funds and redesignated for other purposes by appropriation of the Legislature. Funds in this account shall be expended upon appropriation of the Legislature by the secretary of tax and revenue in connection with the administration of this article.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 35. Property of Religious, Educational and Charitable Organizations › Article 5B. Preneed Cemetery Company Property, Goods and Services; Related Contracts › §35-5B-3. Exemptions

The provisions of this article do not apply to:
(1) Sales of property, goods and services subject to the provisions of article fourteen, chapter forty-seven of this code;
(2) Sales of services by perpetual care cemeteries subject to the provisions of article five-a of this chapter;
(3) Sales of property, goods and services by cemeteries owned and operated by a county, municipal corporation, by a church or by a nonstock corporation not operated for profit if the cemetery: (A) Does not compensate any officer or director except for reimbursement of reasonable expenses incurred in the performance of official duties; (B) does not sell or construct or directly or indirectly contract for the sale or construction of vaults or lawn or mausoleum crypts; and (C) uses proceeds from the sale of all graves and entombment rights for the sole purpose of defraying the direct expenses of maintaining the cemetery;
(4) Sales of property, goods and services by community cemeteries not operated for profit if the cemetery: (A) Does not compensate any officer, owner or director except for reimbursement of reasonable expenses incurred in the performance of official duties; and (B) uses the proceeds from the sale of the graves for the sole purpose of defraying the direct expenses of maintaining its facilities; and
(5) Sales of property, goods and services by family cemeteries wherein lots or spaces are not offered for public sale.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 35. Property of Religious, Educational and Charitable Organizations › Article 5B. Preneed Cemetery Company Property, Goods and Services; Related Contracts › §35-5B-4. Deposit in Preneed Trust Required; Who May Serve as Trustee

(a) Each cemetery company shall deposit into an interest bearing trust fund forty percent of the receipts from the sale of property, goods or services purchased pursuant to a preneed cemetery company contract including sales of opening and closing or interment services, when the delivery thereof will be delayed more than one hundred twenty days from the initial payment on said contract. However, should the proceeds from the sale be financed through a lending institution, it shall be considered a cash sale. Deposits are required to be made by the cemetery company within thirty days after the close of the month in which said receipts are paid to it.
(b) If payment is made on an installment or deferred payment basis, the seller shall have the option of depositing into the trust fund forty percent of the amount of the principal initially, or alternatively, depositing forty percent of the principal of each payment within thirty days after the close of the month in which said receipts are paid to it.
(c) (1) The trustee of the trust fund shall be appointed by the person owning, operating, or developing a cemetery company. If the trustee is other than a bank, savings and loan or other federally insured investment banking institution, the trustee shall be approved by the Tax Commissioner. A trustee that is not a bank, savings and loan or other federally insured investment banking institution shall apply to the Tax Commissioner for approval, and the Tax Commissioner shall approve the trustee when satisfied that:
(A) The applicant employs and is directed by persons who are qualified by character, experience, and financial responsibility to care for and invest the funds of others; and
(B) The applicant will perform its duties in a proper and legal manner and the trust funds and interest of the public generally will not be jeopardized.
(2) If the trustee is other than a bank, savings and loan or other federally insured investment banking institution, the trustee shall furnish a fidelity bond with corporate surety thereon, payable to the trust established, in a sum equal to but not less than one hundred percent of the value of the principal of the trust estate at the beginning of each calendar year, which bond shall be deposited with the Tax Commissioner.
(3) If the trustee is other than a bank, savings and loan or other federally insured investment banking institution, and if it appears that an officer, director or employee of the trustee is dishonest, incompetent or reckless in the management of a trust fund required by the provisions of this article, the Tax Commissioner may bring an action in the circuit courts of this state to remove the trustee and to impound the property and business of the trustee as may be reasonably necessary to protect the trust funds.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 35. Property of Religious, Educational and Charitable Organizations › Article 5B. Preneed Cemetery Company Property, Goods and Services; Related Contracts › §35-5B-5. Requirements for Preneed Cemetery Company Contracts

A preneed cemetery company contract shall:
(1) Be written in clear understandable language and printed in easy-to-read type, size and style;
(2) Include the name and address of the seller, the contract buyer and the person for whom the contract is bought if other than the contract buyer;
(3) Contain a complete description of the property, goods or services bought, including an itemization of the retail price of the property, goods or services bought and, specifically, the retail price of the monument, marker, installation, foundation, opening and closing of the grave site, and any other charges. Failure to provide this information is a violation of subsection (f), section one hundred two, article six, chapter forty-six-a of this code, relating to unfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts or practices;
(4) Clearly disclose whether the price of the property, goods or services bought is guaranteed;
(5) Provide that if the particular property, goods or services specified in the contract are unavailable at the time of delivery, the seller shall furnish property, goods or services similar in size and style and equal in quality of material and workmanship, and that the representative of the deceased has the right to reasonably choose the property, goods or services to be substituted; and
(6) Be executed in duplicate and a signed copy given to the buyer.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 35. Property of Religious, Educational and Charitable Organizations › Article 5B. Preneed Cemetery Company Property, Goods and Services; Related Contracts › §35-5B-6. Identification of Funds

Any funds deposited in the trust account as required by section four of this article shall be identified in the records of the seller by the contract number and by the name of the buyer. The trustee may commingle the deposits in any preneed trust account for the purposes of the management thereof and the investment of funds therein.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 35. Property of Religious, Educational and Charitable Organizations › Article 5B. Preneed Cemetery Company Property, Goods and Services; Related Contracts › §35-5B-7. Corpus of Trust Account and Income to Remain in Preneed Trust Account; Exception

The corpus of the trust account shall remain intact until the property or goods are delivered or services performed as specified in the contract: Provided, That the net income from the preneed trust account may be used to pay any appropriate trustee and Auditor fees, commissions and costs. The net income from the preneed trust account, after payment of any appropriate trustee and Auditor fees, commissions and costs, shall remain in the account and be reinvested and compounded. Any trustee fees, commissions and costs in excess of income shall be paid by the cemetery company and not from the trust. However, the trustee shall, as of the close of the cemetery company's fiscal year, upon the written assurance to the trustee by a certified public accountant employed by the seller, return to the seller any income in the seller's account which, when added to the corpus of the trust account is in excess of the current cost requirements for all undelivered property, goods or services included in the seller's preneed cemetery company contracts including all outstanding preneed cemetery company contracts entered into prior to July 1, 1993. The seller's cost requirements shall be based upon wholesale cost and certified in its records by a sworn affidavit by the compliance agent and shall be determined by the seller as of the close of the cemetery company's fiscal year.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 35. Property of Religious, Educational and Charitable Organizations › Article 5B. Preneed Cemetery Company Property, Goods and Services; Related Contracts › §35-5B-8. Disbursement of Trust Funds Upon Performance of Contract; Mausoleum Construction Required

(a) Upon performance of the preneed cemetery company contract, the seller shall certify to the trustee by affidavit the amount of specific funds in the trust, identified with the contract performed, which the trustee shall pay to the seller. The seller may in its records itemize the property, goods or services and the consideration paid or to be paid therefor, to which the deposit requirements of this article apply. In such case the seller may, upon certification to the trustee of performance or delivery of such property, goods or services and of the amount of specific trust funds identified in its records with such items, request disbursement of that portion of the specific funds deposited pursuant to the contract, which the trustee shall pay to the seller.
(b) If the preneed contract provides for two or more persons, the seller may, at its option, designate in its records the consideration paid for each individual in the preneed cemetery company contract. In such case, upon performance of that portion of the contract identified with a particular individual, the seller may request, by certification in the manner described above, the disbursement of trust funds applicable to that portion of the contract, which the trustee shall pay to the seller.
(c) Any cemetery company that sells space in an unconstructed mausoleum must commence construction within seven years from the date of the first sale or when eighty percent of the spaces in the original mausoleum plan are sold, whichever occurs first.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 35. Property of Religious, Educational and Charitable Organizations › Article 5B. Preneed Cemetery Company Property, Goods and Services; Related Contracts › §35-5B-10. Financial Report and Written Assurance Required

(a) The cemetery company shall report the following information to the Tax Commissioner within four months following the close of the cemetery company's fiscal year:
(1) The total amount of principal in the preneed trust account;
(2) The securities in which the preneed trust account is invested;
(3) The income received from the trust and the source of that income during the preceding fiscal year;
(4) An affidavit executed by the compliance agent that all provisions of this article applicable to the seller relating to preneed trust accounts have been complied with;
(5) The total receipts required to be deposited in the preneed trust account;
(6) All expenditures from the preneed trust account; and
(7) If the trustee is other than a bank, savings and loan or other federally insured investment banking institution, proof, in a manner determined by the Tax Commissioner, that the fidelity bond required by the provisions of section four of this article has been secured and that it is in effect.
(b) The cemetery company shall employ an independent certified public accountant who is to audit the account and provide assurance, which assurance shall be forwarded with the report required by subsection (a) of this section, that forty percent of the cash receipts from the sale of preneed property, goods or services which will not be delivered or performed within one hundred twenty days after receipt of the initial payment on account has been deposited in the account within thirty days after the close of the month in which the payment was received.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 35. Property of Religious, Educational and Charitable Organizations › Article 5B. Preneed Cemetery Company Property, Goods and Services; Related Contracts › §35-5B-11. Inclusion of Property, Goods and Services to Be Delivered Within One Hundred Twenty Days

Nothing in this article prohibits the sale within the contract of preneed property, goods or services to be delivered within one hundred twenty days after the receipt of the initial payment on account of such sale. Contracts may specify separately the total consideration paid or to be paid for preneed property, goods or services not to be delivered or provided within one hundred twenty days after receipt of initial payment. If a contract does not so specify, the seller shall deposit forty percent of the total consideration for the entire contract.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 35. Property of Religious, Educational and Charitable Organizations › Article 5B. Preneed Cemetery Company Property, Goods and Services; Related Contracts › §35-5B-12. Breach of Contract by Seller; Trust to Be Single Purpose Trust

(a) If, after a written request, the seller fails to perform its contractual duties, the purchaser, executor or administrator of the estate, or heirs, or assigns or duly authorized representative of the purchaser shall be entitled to maintain a proper legal or equitable action in any court of competent jurisdiction. No other purchaser need be made a party to or receive notice of any proceeding brought pursuant to this section relating to the performance of any other contract.
(b) The trust shall be a single purpose trust, and the trust funds are not available to any creditors as assets of the seller, nor may the seller encumber the trust funds.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 35. Property of Religious, Educational and Charitable Organizations › Article 5B. Preneed Cemetery Company Property, Goods and Services; Related Contracts › §35-5B-13. Trustee May Rely on Certifications and Affidavits

The trustee may rely upon all certifications and affidavits which have been made pursuant to the provisions of this article and is not liable to any person for such reasonable reliance.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 35. Property of Religious, Educational and Charitable Organizations › Article 5B. Preneed Cemetery Company Property, Goods and Services; Related Contracts › §35-5B-14. Transfer of Trust Funds to Another Trustee

The seller may, upon notification in writing to the trustee, and upon such other terms and conditions as the agreement between them may specify, transfer its account funds to another trustee qualified under the provisions of this article. The trustee may, upon notification in writing to the seller, and upon such other terms and conditions as the agreement between them may specify, transfer the trust funds to another trustee qualified under the provisions of this article.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 35. Property of Religious, Educational and Charitable Organizations › Article 5B. Preneed Cemetery Company Property, Goods and Services; Related Contracts › §35-5B-16. Cemetery Property Maintained by Cemetery Company

With respect to cemetery property maintained by a cemetery company, the cemetery company is responsible for the performance of:
(1) The care and maintenance of the cemetery property it owns; and
(2) The opening and closing of all graves, crypts or niches for human remains in any cemetery property it owns.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 35. Property of Religious, Educational and Charitable Organizations › Article 5B. Preneed Cemetery Company Property, Goods and Services; Related Contracts › §35-5B-18. Violation a Misdemeanor

Any person who violates any of the provisions of this article is guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than one hundred nor more than $1,000 for each occurrence, or incarcerated in the county or regional jail for a term not to exceed one year, or both fined and incarcerated. Any person who violates any of the provisions of this article shall for a second offense be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than five hundred nor more than $3,000, or incarcerated in the penitentiary not less than one nor more than three years, or, in the discretion of the court, be incarcerated in the county jail for a term not to exceed one year.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 35. Property of Religious, Educational and Charitable Organizations › Article 5B. Preneed Cemetery Company Property, Goods and Services; Related Contracts › §35-5B-19. Abandoned Interment Rights

(a) A preneed cemetery company contract may include a provision whereby interment rights that are not used for a period of seventy-five years or more shall be deemed abandoned if unclaimed and shall revert to the cemetery company if the procedures in subsection (b) are followed.
(b) (1) Prior to deeming an owner's interment rights abandoned, a cemetery company shall send notice of such intent to the owner of record, his or her heirs or assigns or any next of kin, by registered letter, return receipt requested, at the owner's last known address requesting the owner's current address or the names and addresses of the heirs or assigns of the owner of record. If a written response is received, then the records of the cemetery company shall be amended accordingly and the interment rights shall be maintained for seventy-five years from the date the written response was received by the cemetery company.
(2) If the registered letter is undeliverable or if no response is received within thirty days after the registered letter was sent, then the cemetery company shall advertise a notice of its intent to declare the interment rights abandoned in a newspaper of general circulation in the county where the cemetery is located and also in the county of the last known address of the owner of record, which notice shall contain the name and business address of the cemetery and the name of the last owner of record. If no response to the newspaper notice is made on behalf of the owner of record or his or her heirs or assigns within one hundred twenty days, then the interment rights shall be deemed abandoned and shall revert to the cemetery company. Upon the reversion of the interment rights to the cemetery company, the cemetery company shall amend its records accordingly and maintain these records for thirty years. If a written response is received, then the records of the cemetery company shall be amended accordingly and the interment rights shall be maintained for seventy-five years from the date the written response was received by the cemetery company.
(c) If, within thirty years after the interment rights have been declared abandoned, the owner of record or his or her heirs or assigns can prove to a cemetery company or a court of competent jurisdiction that he or she would be entitled to the interment rights of the owner of record if those rights had not reverted to the cemetery company as provided for by this section, then the cemetery company shall, at no cost, provide a right of interment similar to the one that was deemed abandoned.
(d) The provisions of this section shall take effect on July 1, 1999, and shall not be construed to apply retroactively.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 35A. Names, Emblems, etc., of Associations, Lodges, etc. › Article 1. Registration › §35A-1-1. Registration in Office of Secretary of State

Any association, lodge, order, fraternal society, beneficial association, or fraternal and beneficial society or association, historical, military or veterans' organization, labor union, foundation, federation, or any other society, organization or association, degree, branch, subordinate lodge, or auxiliary thereof, whether incorporated or unincorporated, the principles and activities of which are not repugnant to the Constitution and laws of the United States or this state, may register, in the office of the Secretary of State, a facsimile, duplicate, or description of its name, badge, motto, button, decoration, charm, emblem, rosette or other insignia, and may, by reregistration, alter or cancel the same.