§ 35-15

(Section scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2027) Sec. 35-15. Cemetery duties. (a) Prices for all cemetery-related products offered for sale by the cemetery authority must be disclosed to the consumer in writing on a standardized price list. Memorialization pricing may be disclosed in price ranges. The price list shall include the effective dates of the prices. The price list shall include not only the range of interment, inurnment, and entombment rights, and the cost of extending the term of any term burial, but also any related merchandise or services offered by the cemetery authority. Charges for installation of markers, monuments, and vaults in cemeteries must be the same without regard to where the item is purchased. (b) A contract for the interment, inurnment, or entombment of human remains must be signed by both parties: the consumer and the cemetery authority or its representative. Such signature shall be personally signed by the signor on either paper or electronic format and shall not include a stamp or electronic facsimile of the signature. Before a contract is signed, the prices for the purchased services and merchandise must be disclosed on the contract and in plain language. If a contract is for a term burial, the term, the option to extend the term, and the subsequent disposition of the human remains post-term must be in bold print and discussed with the consumer. Any contract for the sale of a burial plot, when designated, must disclose the exact location of the burial plot based on the survey of the cemetery map or plat on file with the cemetery authority. (c) A cemetery authority that has the legal right to extend a term burial shall, prior to disinterment, provide the family or other authorized agent under the Disposition of Remains Act the opportunity to extend the term of a term burial for the cost as stated on the cemetery authority's current price list. Regardless of whether the family or other authorized agent chooses to extend the term burial, the cemetery authority shall, prior to disinterment, provide notice to the family or other authorized agent under the Disposition of Remains Act of the cemetery authority's intention to disinter the remains and to inter different human remains in that space. (d) If any rules or regulations, including the operational or maintenance requirements, of a cemetery change after the date a contract is signed for the purchase of cemetery-related or funeral-related products or services, the cemetery may not require the consumer, purchaser, or such individual's relative or representative to purchase any merchandise or service not included in the original contract or in the rules and regulations in existence when the contract was entered unless the purchase is reasonable or required to make the cemetery authority compliant with applicable law. (e) No cemetery authority or its agent may engage in deceptive or unfair practices. The cemetery authority and its agents may not misrepresent legal or cemetery requirements. (f) The Department may adopt rules regarding green burial certification, green cremation products and methods, and consumer education. (g) The contractual requirements contained in this Section only apply to contracts executed after the effective date of this Act.

Legislative History

(Source: P.A. 102-20, eff. 6-25-21.)