§ 328.211 Short title
§ 328.212 Meanings of words and phrases
§ 328.213 Definitions; B to D
§ 328.214 Definitions; D to M
§ 328.215 Definitions; N to U
§ 328.216 Certificate of registration to sell, provide, or agree to provide merchandise or services pursuant to prepaid contract; application; fee; duration of certificate; contents of application form; renewal
§ 328.217 Deposit of funds with escrow agent; agreement to allow inspection and copying of records
§ 328.218 Accounts, books, and records; special report; examination; corrective or penal action; examination, review, or audit of books and records; authorization of escrow agents to open records; statement in
§ 328.219 Notice of purchase or assignment of business operations or prepaid contracts
§ 328.220 Nonguaranteed or guaranteed price contracts; execution
§ 328.221 Guaranteed price contract; requirements
§ 328.222 Funds to be held in escrow by escrow agent; additional commission not subject to depository requirements; commission if contract price paid in installments; refund; qualifications and selection of esc
§ 328.223 Cancellation of prepaid contract by contract buyer; notice; disbursement of principal and income; cancellation of contract by contract seller or provider; failure to use escrow account to make funeral
§ 328.224 Liability for principal and income; investment of funds; changing escrow agent or depository
§ 328.225 Prices or quotations of prices; requirements; exception; manipulation of prices prohibited; provision for revocation of contract; refund; disclosure of right to cancel contract and amount of refund; d
§ 328.226 Prepaid funeral contract not in writing as voidable; agreement as to rate of interest; interest added or deducted in advance; computation of interest; financing of contract
§ 328.227 Rules generally
§ 328.228 Prohibited conduct; rules; administrative action
§ 328.229 Irrevocable prepaid contract approved by family independence agency or department of community health; rules
§ 328.230 Complaint; investigation; examination of books, records, contracts, and other documents; duties of department on determination of reasonable cause to believe in occurrence of violation; violation; hea
§ 328.231 Violations; penalties
§ 328.232 Conversion of funds as felony; violation as misdemeanor; penalties
§ 328.233 Noncompliance with investment and depositing requirements; petition for appointment of receiver; notice; hearing; liquidation
§ 328.234 Action to force compliance; damages; orders
§ 328.235 Effective date

Terms Used In Michigan Laws > Chapter 328 > Act 255 of 1986 - Prepaid Funeral and Cemetery Sales Act

  • Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
  • Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
  • Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
  • Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
  • Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
  • Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
  • 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
  • Casket: means any box or container consisting of 1 or more parts in which a dead human body is placed before interment, entombment, or cremation that may or may not be permanently interred, entombed, or cremated with the dead human body. See Michigan Laws 328.213
  • Catafalque: means an ornamental or decorative object or structure placed beneath, over, or around a casket, vault, or a dead human body before final disposition of the dead human body. See Michigan Laws 328.213
  • Cemetery: means 1, or a combination of more than 1, of the following:
  (i) A burial ground for earth interments. See Michigan Laws 328.213
  • Cemetery burial vault or other outside container: means a box or container used solely at the place of interment to permanently surround or enclose a casket and to support the earth above the casket after burial. See Michigan Laws 328.213
  • Cemetery merchandise: means merchandise described in section 4(1)(k)(i). See Michigan Laws 328.213
  • Cemetery services: means cremations, grave openings and closings, and installation of grave memorials. See Michigan Laws 328.213
  • Columbarium: means a building or other aboveground structure that is affixed to land and is a permanent repository for cremated human remains. See Michigan Laws 328.213
  • Combination unit: means any product consisting of a unit or a series of units designed or intended to be used together as both a casket and as a permanent burial receptacle. See Michigan Laws 328.213
  • Commissioner: means the director. See Michigan Laws 500.102
  • Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
  • Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Contract beneficiary: means an individual specified or implied in a prepaid contract for whom the funeral or cemetery services or merchandise shall be performed or furnished after death. See Michigan Laws 328.213
  • Contract buyer: means an individual, including a contract beneficiary, who purchases merchandise or funeral or cemetery services pursuant to a prepaid contract. See Michigan Laws 328.213
  • contract price: means money and other property to be paid as total compensation to a contract seller or provider for the funeral or cemetery services or merchandise, or both, to be performed or furnished under a prepaid contract, late payment penalties, payments required to be made to a governmental agency at the time the contract is entered into, and income earned on the funds. See Michigan Laws 328.213
  • Contract seller: means a person who sells, makes available, or provides prepaid contracts. See Michigan Laws 328.213
  • Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • Crypt: means a chamber in a mausoleum of sufficient size to entomb the uncremated remains of a deceased person. See Michigan Laws 328.213
  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Decedent: A deceased person.
  • Department: means the department of labor and economic growth. See Michigan Laws 328.213
  • Department: means the department of insurance and financial services. See Michigan Laws 500.102
  • Depository: means a state or nationally chartered bank or state or federally chartered savings and loan association, savings bank, or credit union whose deposits are insured by an agency of the United States government under the laws of this state or the United States. See Michigan Laws 328.214
  • Detroit consumer price index: means the index for all urban wage earners for the Detroit statistical area from the United States department of labor, bureau of labor statistics. See Michigan Laws 328.214
  • Director: means , unless the context clearly implies a different meaning, the director of the department. See Michigan Laws 500.102
  • Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
  • Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
  • Escrow agent: means a person who holds, invests, and disburses principal and income from the funds received under a prepaid contract. See Michigan Laws 328.214
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
  • Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
  • Freedom of Information Act: A federal law that mandates that all the records created and kept by federal agencies in the executive branch of government must be open for public inspection and copying. The only exceptions are those records that fall into one of nine exempted categories listed in the statute. Source: OCC
  • Funds: means all money or other consideration actually received from a contract buyer by a contract seller or provider or an assignee from the contract buyer in connection with any aspect of the sale of a prepaid contract, including finance charges, but does not include late payment penalties, payments required to be made to a governmental agency at the time the contract is entered into, or a commission authorized by section 12(1). See Michigan Laws 328.214
  • Funeral services: means services customarily performed by a mortuary science licensee who is licensed pursuant to article 18 of the occupational code, 1980 PA 299, MCL 339. See Michigan Laws 328.214
  • Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
  • Grave memorial: means a stone or other structure or item used for the purpose of memorializing a decedent and placed on or in proximity to a place of burial, interment, or entombment of a casket, catafalque, or vault or on or in proximity to a place of inurnment. See Michigan Laws 328.214
  • Guaranteed price contract: means a prepaid contract under which funds received are held pursuant to an escrow agreement. See Michigan Laws 328.214
  • Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
  • Health maintenance organization: means that term as defined in section 3501. See Michigan Laws 500.106
  • In the reasonable exercise of discretion: means that an order, decision, determination, finding, ruling, opinion, action, or inaction was based upon facts reasonably found to exist and was not inconsistent with generally acceptable standards and practices of those knowledgeable in the field in question. See Michigan Laws 500.116
  • in writing: shall be construed to include printing, engraving, and lithographing; except that if the written signature of a person is required by law, the signature shall be the proper handwriting of the person or, if the person is unable to write, the person's proper mark, which may be, unless otherwise expressly prohibited by law, a clear and classifiable fingerprint of the person made with ink or another substance. See Michigan Laws 8.3q
  • Income: means the money earned by the investment of the principal, including, but not limited to, interest, dividends, and gains or losses on the sale of, deposit of, or exchange of, property using invested principal amounts. See Michigan Laws 328.214
  • Insurer: means an individual, corporation, association, partnership, reciprocal exchange, inter-insurer, Lloyds organization, fraternal benefit society, or other legal entity, engaged or attempting to engage in the business of making insurance or surety contracts. See Michigan Laws 500.106
  • Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. Source: OCC
  • Interment: means the disposition of human remains by earth interment, entombment, or inurnment. See Michigan Laws 328.214
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
  • Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
  • Majority leader: see Floor Leaders
  • Mausoleum: means a building or other aboveground structure that is affixed to land and is a permanent repository for human remains. See Michigan Laws 328.214
  • merchandise: means both of the following:
  •   (i) Cemetery burial vaults or other outside containers, grave memorials, and urns. See Michigan Laws 328.214
  • Nonguaranteed price contract: means a prepaid contract under which funds received are held pursuant to an escrow agreement between a contract seller or provider and a contract buyer and are applied to the cost of the merchandise or funeral or cemetery services, which merchandise or funeral or cemetery services may be selected by the contract buyer at the time the contract is signed or as selected by a person legally authorized to procure merchandise or funeral or cemetery services at the time of death of the contract beneficiary. See Michigan Laws 328.215
  • Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
  • oath: shall be construed to include the word "affirmation" in all cases where by law an affirmation may be substituted for an oath; and in like cases the word "sworn" shall be construed to include the word "affirmed". See Michigan Laws 8.3k
  • Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
  • Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
  • Person: means an individual, group of individuals, sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability company, association, corporation, government agency, cemetery, or a combination of these legal entities. See Michigan Laws 328.215
  • person: may extend and be applied to bodies politic and corporate, as well as to individuals. See Michigan Laws 8.3l
  • Physical delivery and retention: means actual control and possession of merchandise that has been permanently relinquished by a contract seller or a provider, or the agent of either, to the contract buyer or the contract beneficiary. See Michigan Laws 328.215
  • Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
  • Prepaid contract: means a contract requiring payment in advance for funeral or cemetery services or merchandise, physical delivery and retention of which would occur after death under a guaranteed price contract or a nonguaranteed price contract. See Michigan Laws 328.215
  • Principal: means the money or other consideration actually deposited in the escrow or trust accounts required by this act. See Michigan Laws 328.215
  • Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
  • Provider: means any person who furnishes or agrees to furnish merchandise or funeral or cemetery services pursuant to a prepaid contract, whether or not that person is the contract seller. See Michigan Laws 328.215
  • Rate: means the cost of insurance per payroll before adjustment for an individual insured's size, exposure, or loss experience. See Michigan Laws 500.2402
  • Registrant: means a person who has registered with the department pursuant to section 6. See Michigan Laws 328.215
  • Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
  • Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
  • Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
  • 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 belonging to the United States; and the words "United States" shall be construed to include the district and territories. See Michigan Laws 8.3o
  • Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
  • Testify: Answer questions in court.
  • Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
  • Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
  • United States: shall be construed to include the district and territories. See Michigan Laws 8.3o
  • Urn: means a container used to preserve the ashes of a dead human body. See Michigan Laws 328.215