1.    If payments are made to a person upon pre-need funeral service contracts, including irrevocable itemized funeral contracts, one hundred percent of the funds collected under the contracts for the sale of professional service or personal property to be used in funeral services and fifty percent of the funds collected under the contracts for the sale of cemetery merchandise must be deposited in or transferred to a trust company in this state or to a federally insured bank, credit union, or savings and loan association in this state, within ten days. The deposit must be placed in a federal deposit insurance corporation or national credit union administration insured account or certificate of deposit or negotiable debt obligation of the United States government. Payments received from the sale of professional service or personal property to be used in funeral services or cemetery merchandise which cannot or would not be serviced by a licensed funeral establishment or cemetery association in the area in which the service or property was sold are specifically included, regardless of whether the sales might otherwise be considered pre-need funeral service contracts, within the payments to be deposited under this section. If payments have been made under an irrevocable itemized funeral contract, the money must be carried in a separate account or separate certificate of deposit with the names of the depositor or transferor, cemetery association or licensed funeral establishment, and the person making payment on behalf of the individual for whose benefit payment is made.

a.    The funds may be released or transferred by the bank, credit union, savings and loan association, or trust company to the depositor upon the death of the individual for whose benefit the funds were paid. A certified copy of the certificate of death must be furnished to the bank, credit union, savings and loan association, or trust company as prima facie evidence of death. The funds may be released or transferred by the bank, credit union, savings and loan association, or trust company to the person making the payment, before the death of the individual for whose benefit the funds are paid, upon a five-day written notice by registered or certified mail made by the bank, credit union, savings and loan association, or trust company to the depositor or transferor at the request of the person making the payment.

b.    A purchaser of a pre-need funeral service contract may make a certain amount of the pre-need funds irrevocable by designating an irrevocable amount to be used to pay for the funeral of the beneficiary. The irrevocable itemized funeral service contract to pay for a funeral is recognized as an allowable asset exclusion used for determining eligibility for medical assistance under section 50-24.1-02.3 at the time the contract is entered. A purchaser of an irrevocable itemized funeral contract has forty-five days from entering the contract to cancel the irrevocable part of the contract by giving notice to the cemetery association or licensed funeral establishment with which the contract was entered. Any pre-need funeral    service contract held by a cemetery association or a licensed funeral establishment must be fully transferable to another cemetery association or funeral establishment licensed under chapter 43-10 or a substantially similar law of another jurisdiction which agrees to accept the obligations.

2.    A bank, credit union, savings and loan association, or trust company receiving such a deposit or transfer shall keep a complete record of the deposit or transfer, showing the name of the depositor or transferor, name of the person making payment, name of the individual for whose benefit payment is made, and any other pertinent information.

3.    Any personal property to be used in funeral services or cemetery merchandise which is sold to a purchaser on the basis it will be identified and marked as belonging to such purchaser, and stored or warehoused for the purchaser, must be stored or warehoused at some location within this state.