North Carolina General Statutes 90-210.63. Substitution of licensee
(a) If the preneed funeral contract is irrevocable, the preneed funeral contract purchaser, or after his death the preneed funeral contract beneficiary or his legal representative, upon written notice to the financial institution or insurance company and the preneed licensee who is a party to the preneed funeral contract, may direct the substitution of a different funeral establishment to furnish funeral services and merchandise.
(1) If the substitution is made after the death of the preneed funeral contract beneficiary, a funeral establishment providing any funeral services or merchandise need not be a preneed licensee under this Article to receive payment for such services or merchandise. The original contracting preneed licensee shall be entitled to payment for any services or merchandise provided pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 90-210.65(d). If the substitution is made before the death of the preneed funeral contract beneficiary, the substitution must be to a preneed licensee. If the preneed funeral contract is funded by a trust deposit or deposits, the financial institution shall immediately pay the funds held to the original contracting preneed licensee.
Terms Used In North Carolina General Statutes 90-210.63
- Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
- Board: means the North Carolina Board of Funeral Service as created pursuant to Article 13A of Chapter 90 of the N. See North Carolina General Statutes 90-210.60
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Financial institution: means a bank, credit union, trust company, savings bank, or savings and loan association authorized by law to do business in this State;
(3) "Insurance company" means any corporation, limited liability company, association, partnership, society, order, individual or aggregation of individuals engaging in or proposing or attempting to engage as principals in any kind of insurance business, including the exchanging of reciprocal or interinsurance contracts between individuals, partnerships, and corporations;
(3a) "Legal representative" means the person authorized by N. See North Carolina General Statutes 90-210.60
- Prearrangement insurance policy: means a life insurance policy, annuity contract, or other insurance contract, or any series of contracts or agreements in any form or manner, issued by an insurance company authorized by law to do business in this State, which, whether by assignment or otherwise, has for a purpose the funding of a preneed funeral contract or an insurance-funded funeral or burial prearrangement, the insured or annuitant being the person for whose service the funds were paid;
(5) "Preneed funeral contract" means any contract, agreement, or mutual understanding, or any series or combination of contracts, agreements, or mutual understandings, whether funded by trust deposits or prearrangement insurance policies, or any combination thereof, which has for a purpose the furnishing or performance of funeral services, or the furnishing or delivery of personal property, merchandise, or services of any nature in connection with the final disposition of a dead human body, to be furnished or delivered at a time determinable by the death of the person whose body is to be disposed of, but does not mean the furnishing of a cemetery lot, crypt, niche, or mausoleum;
(6) "Preneed funeral contract beneficiary" means the person upon whose death the preneed funeral contract will be performed; this person may also be the purchaser of the preneed funeral contract;
(7) "Preneed funeral funds" means all payments of cash made to any person, partnership, association, corporation, or other entity upon any preneed funeral contract or any other agreement, contract, or prearrangement insurance policy, or any series or combination of preneed funeral contracts or any other agreements, contracts, or prearrangement insurance policies, but excluding the furnishing of cemetery lots, crypts, niches, and mausoleums, which have for a purpose or which by operation provide for the furnishing or performance of funeral or burial services, or the furnishing or delivery of personal property, merchandise, or services of any nature in connection with the final disposition of a dead human body, to be furnished or delivered at a time determinable by the death of the person whose body is to be disposed of, or the providing of the proceeds of any insurance policy for such use;
(8) "Preneed funeral planning" means offering to sell or selling preneed funeral contracts, or making other arrangements prior to death for the providing of funeral services or merchandise;
(9) "Preneed licensee" means a funeral establishment which has applied for and has been granted a license to sell preneed funeral contracts under the Article. See North Carolina General Statutes 90-210.60
- state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, shall be construed to extend to and include the District of Columbia and the several territories, so called; and the words "United States" shall be construed to include the said district and territories and all dependencies. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3
(2) The original contracting preneed licensee shall immediately pay all funds received to the successor funeral establishment designated. Regardless of whether the substitution is made before or after the death of the preneed funeral contract beneficiary, the original contracting preneed licensee shall not be required to give credit for the amount retained pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 90-210.61(a)(2), except when there was a substitution under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 90-210.68(d1) and (e). Upon making payments pursuant to this subsection, the financial institution and the original contracting preneed licensee shall be relieved from all further contractual liability thereon.
(3) If the preneed funeral contract is funded by a prearrangement insurance policy, the insurance company shall not pay any of the funds until the death of the preneed funeral contract beneficiary, and the insurance company shall pay the funds in accordance with the terms of the policy.
(b) The person giving notice of the substitution of a preneed licensee and the successor preneed licensee shall enter into a new preneed funeral contract for the funds transferred, and this Article shall apply, including the duty of the successor preneed licensee to deposit all of the funds in a financial institution if the death of the preneed funeral contract beneficiary has not occurred. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to permit the use of the transferred funds to purchase a prearrangement insurance policy, nor to permit an irrevocable preneed funeral contract to be made revocable or to result in the payment of any of the transferred funds to the preneed funeral contract purchaser or to the preneed funeral contract beneficiary or his estate, except as provided by N.C. Gen. Stat. § 90-210.64(b).
(c) Any licensee holding a permit under Articles 13A or 13F of this Chapter that accepts the transfer of a preneed funeral contract after the death of the preneed contract beneficiary shall file the certificate of performance with the Board and mail a copy to the contracting preneed licensee. If the preneed funeral contract is performed by a funeral establishment in another state, the original contracting preneed licensee shall make reasonable efforts to obtain the information needed to accurately complete the certificate of performance and shall file the certificate no later than the time allowed under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 90-210.64 (1991 (Reg. Sess., 1992), c. 901, s. 2; 1993, c. 242, s. 1; 1997-399, s. 24; 2003-420, s. 11; 2019-207, s. 1(b).)