(1) The board shall adopt rules, with the approval of the department, to administer ss. 497.267 and 497.268, including, but not limited to:

(a) Reporting requirements for a cemetery licensed under this chapter, including the requirement that specific reports be made on forms designed and approved by the board by rule.

Terms Used In Florida Statutes 497.2675

  • Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
  • Board: means the Board of Funeral, Cemetery, and Consumer Services. See Florida Statutes 497.005
  • Care and maintenance: means the perpetual process of keeping a cemetery and its lots, graves, grounds, landscaping, roads, paths, parking lots, fences, mausoleums, columbaria, vaults, crypts, utilities, and other improvements, structures, and embellishments in a well-cared-for and dignified condition, so that the cemetery does not become a nuisance or place of reproach and desolation in the community. See Florida Statutes 497.005
  • Cemetery: means a place dedicated to and used or intended to be used for the permanent interment of human remains or cremated remains. See Florida Statutes 497.005
  • Cemetery company: means any legal entity that owns or controls cemetery lands or property. See Florida Statutes 497.005
  • Department: means the Department of Financial Services. See Florida Statutes 497.005
  • Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
  • Fair market value: means the fair market value of assets held by a trust as of a specific date, assuming all assets of the trust are sold on that specific date. See Florida Statutes 497.005
  • Income: means earnings on trust assets, including interest, dividends, and other income earned on the principal. See Florida Statutes 497.005
  • Licensee: means the person or entity holding any license or other authorization issued under this chapter, except where expressly indicated otherwise. See Florida Statutes 497.005
  • Principal: means and includes the sole proprietor of a sole proprietorship; all partners of a partnership; all members of a limited liability company; regarding a corporation, all directors and officers, and all stockholders controlling more than 10 percent of the voting stock; and all other persons who can exercise control over the person or entity. See Florida Statutes 497.005
  • Rules: refers to rules adopted under this chapter unless expressly indicated to the contrary. See Florida Statutes 497.005
  • Total return withdrawal percentage: means a percentage, not to exceed 5 percent, of the fair market value of a trust. See Florida Statutes 497.005
(b) Rules to address a cemetery licensed under this chapter whose pro rata share of the fair market value of the trust has not grown over a 3-year average, including limiting withdrawals from the care and maintenance trust fund, and any exceptions approved by the board.
(2) Each cemetery company licensed under this chapter shall elect one of two withdrawal methods, as specified in paragraphs (a) and (b), for withdrawals from the cemetery company’s care and maintenance trust fund. The board shall adopt rules, with the approval of the department, to administer this subsection.

(a) Net income withdrawal method.–Net income may be withdrawn from the trust, as earned, on a monthly basis.
(b) Total return withdrawal method.–The licensee shall multiply the average fair market value of its pro rata share of the trust by the total return withdrawal percentage and may withdraw one-fourth of that amount at least quarterly beginning the first quarter of the new trust year. The initial total return withdrawal percentage elected by the licensee may not increase the total return withdrawal percentage for that quarter. For purposes of this paragraph, “average fair market value” means, in relation to a trust, the average of the fair market value of each asset held by the trust at the beginning of the current year and in each of the 2 previous years, or for the entire term of the trust if there are less than 2 previous years, and adjusted as follows:

1. If assets are added to the trust during the years used to determine the average, the amount of each addition is added to all years in which such addition is not included.
2. If assets are distributed from the trust during the years used to determine the average, other than in satisfaction of the unitrust amount, as defined in s. 738.1041, the amount of each distribution is subtracted from all other years in which such distribution is not included.
(3) Without regard to the withdrawal method selected, taxes on capital gains, if any, must be paid from the trust principal.
  Previous section
Next section  
 Part II Contents