North Carolina General Statutes 90-210.68. Licensee’s books and records; notice of transfers, assignments and terminations
(a) Every preneed licensee shall keep for examination by the Board accurate accounts, books, and records in this State of all preneed funeral contract and prearrangement insurance policy transactions used to fund preneed funeral contracts, copies of all agreements, insurance policies, instruments of assignment, the dates and amounts of payments made and accepted thereon, the names and addresses of the contracting parties, the persons for whose benefit funds are accepted, and the names of the financial institutions holding preneed funeral trust funds and insurance companies issuing insurance policies used to fund preneed funeral contracts. The Board, its inspectors appointed pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 90-210.24 and its examiners, which the Board may appoint to assist in the enforcement of this Article, may during normal hours of operation and periods shortly before or after normal hours of operation, investigate the books, records, and accounts of any licensee under this Article with respect to trust funds, preneed funeral contracts, and insurance policies used to fund preneed funeral contracts. Any preneed licensee who, upon inspection, fails to meet the requirements of this subsection or who fails to keep an appointment for an inspection shall pay a reinspection fee to the Board in an amount not to exceed one hundred dollars ($100.00). The Board may require the attendance of and examine under oath all persons whose testimony it may require. Every preneed licensee shall submit a written report to the Board, at least annually, in a manner and with such content as established by the Board, of its preneed funeral contract sales and performance of such contracts. The Board may also require other reports.
(a1) On or before March 31, each preneed licensee shall prepare and submit an annual report on its preneed funeral contract sales and submit the report to the Board in a manner and form prescribed by the Board.
(b) A preneed licensee may transfer preneed funds held by it as trustee from the financial institution which is a party to a preneed funeral contract to a substitute financial institution that is not a party to the contract. Within 10 days after the transfer, the preneed licensee shall notify the Board, in writing, of the name and address of the transferee financial institution. Before the transfer may be made, the transferee financial institution shall agree to make disclosures required under the preneed funeral contract to the Board or its inspectors or examiners. If the contract is revocable, the licensee shall notify the contracting party of the intended transfer.
(c) If any preneed licensee transfers or assigns its assets or stock to a successor funeral establishment or terminates its business as a funeral establishment, the preneed licensee and assignee shall notify the Board at least 30 days prior to the effective date of the transfer, assignment or termination: provided, however, the successor funeral establishment must be a preneed licensee or shall be required to apply for and be granted such license by the Board before accepting any preneed funeral contracts, whether funded by trust deposits or preneed insurance policies. Provided further, a successor funeral establishment shall be liable to the preneed funeral contract purchasers for the amount of contract payments retained by the assigning or transferring funeral home pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 90-210.61(a)(2).
(d) Financial institutions that accept preneed funeral trust funds and insurance companies that issue or assign insurance policies that are used to fund preneed funeral contracts shall, upon request by the Board or its inspectors or examiners, disclose any information regarding preneed funeral trust accounts held or any insurance policies used to fund a preneed funeral contract.
Financial institutions that accept preneed funeral trust funds and insurance companies that issue or assign insurance policy proceeds or designate a preneed funeral establishment as a policy beneficiary or owner shall also forward an account balance to the contracting preneed funeral establishment at the end of each calendar year.
(d1) When a preneed funeral establishment license lapses or is terminated for any reason, the preneed licensee shall immediately divest of all the unperformed preneed funeral contracts and shall transfer them and any amounts retained under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 90-210.61(a)(2) to another preneed funeral establishment licensee pursuant to the procedures of subsection (e) of this section.
(e) In the event that any preneed licensee is unable or unwilling or is for any reason relieved of its responsibility to perform as trustee or to perform any preneed funeral contract, the Board shall order the contract and any amounts retained pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 90-210.61(a)(2) to be assigned to a substitute preneed licensee provided that neither the substitute preneed licensee or preneed contract purchaser, or after the death of the preneed contract purchaser, the preneed contract beneficiary or his or her legal representative, shall be obligated to perform the agreement without executing a new preneed funeral contract. Any lapse or transfer of a preneed contract pursuant to this section shall not be grounds to revoke an irrevocable preneed funeral contract.
(f) The substitute preneed licensee under subsections (d1) and (e) of this section shall be liable to the preneed funeral contract purchasers for the amount of contract payments that had been retained by, and that the substitute preneed licensee has received from, the assigning preneed licensee. ?(1969, c. 187, s. 6; 1983, c. 657, ss. 4, 5; 1985, c. 12, s. 1; 1991 (Reg. Sess., 1992), c. 901, s. 2; 1993, c. 164, s. 3; 1997-399, s. 28; 2007-531, ss. 13, 14; 2018-78, s. 11.)
Terms Used In North Carolina General Statutes 90-210.68
- Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
- 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
- in writing: may be construed to include printing, engraving, lithographing, and any other mode of representing words and letters: Provided, that in all cases where a written signature is required by law, the same shall be in a proper handwriting, or in a proper mark. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3
- 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
- Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
- Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.