As used in this part, unless the context requires otherwise:

(1) “Cash advance item” means any item obtained from a third party and paid for by the funeral provider on the purchaser’s behalf. Cash advance items may include, but are not limited to, sales tax, certified copies of death certificates, clergy honoraria, flowers, musicians or singers, obituary notices and gratuities;

Terms Used In Tennessee Code 62-5-403

  • 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.
  • 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
  • Commissioner: means the commissioner of commerce and insurance or the commissioner's designee. See Tennessee Code 62-5-403
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • 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.
  • Department: means the department of commerce and insurance. See Tennessee Code 62-5-403
  • Funeral establishment: means any business, whether a proprietorship, partnership, firm, association or corporation, engaged in arranging, directing or supervising funerals for profit or other benefit, the preparing of dead human bodies for burial, the disposition of dead human bodies, the provision or maintenance of place for the preparation for disposition, or for the care or disposition of human bodies. See Tennessee Code 62-5-101
  • 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 contracts between individuals, partnerships, and corporations. See Tennessee Code 62-5-403
  • National Bank: A bank that is subject to the supervision of the Comptroller of the Currency. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is a bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department. A national bank can be recognized because it must have "national" or "national association" in its name. Source: OCC
  • 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: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Personal property: All property that is not real property.
  • Personal property: includes money, goods, chattels, things in action, and evidences of debt. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Pre-need funeral contract: means any agreement, contract or plan requiring the payment of money in advance, whether in a lump sum or installments and whether funded by a pre-need funeral trust or prearrangement insurance policy or combination of a pre-need funeral trust and a prearrangement insurance policy, that is made or entered into with any person, association, partnership, firm or corporation for the final disposition of a dead human body, for funeral or burial services or for the furnishing of personal property or funeral or burial merchandise, wherein the use of the personal property or the funeral or burial merchandise or the furnishing of professional services by a funeral director or embalmer is not immediately required. See Tennessee Code 62-5-403
  • Pre-need funeral trust: means funds set aside in a trust account held by a trustee to provide for a pre-need funeral contract. See Tennessee Code 62-5-403
  • Pre-need sales agent: means an individual who has applied for and has been granted, or who engages in conduct requiring, registration to sell pre-need funeral contracts on behalf of a pre-need seller pursuant to this part. See Tennessee Code 62-5-403
  • Pre-need seller: means a funeral establishment or other individual, firm, partnership, company, corporation, or association that has applied for and has been granted, or that engages in conduct requiring, registration to sell pre-need funeral contracts pursuant to this part. See Tennessee Code 62-5-403
  • 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, that, whether by assignment or otherwise, funds a pre-need funeral contract, the insured or annuitant being the person for whose funeral service the funds were paid. See Tennessee Code 62-5-403
  • Savings and loan association: includes a building and loan association, a federal or state savings and loan association, a federal savings bank, and any other financial institution, the accounts of which are insured by the federal savings and loan insurance corporation (FSLIC) or any successor of such corporation. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
  • Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. Source: OCC
  • Trustee: means a state or national bank, federally chartered savings and loan association, state chartered trust company, or, in the reasonable discretion of the commissioner upon the terms and conditions that the commissioner may require, a securities brokerage firm licensed and in good standing with appropriate state and federal regulatory authorities. See Tennessee Code 62-5-403
  • Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
  • Year: means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(2) “Commissioner” means the commissioner of commerce and insurance or the commissioner’s designee;
(3) “Department” means the department of commerce and insurance;
(4) “Funeral merchandise”:

(A) Means merchandise, whether sold by a funeral establishment, cemetery company, or any other individual, partnership, company, corporation, or association, intended for use in the final disposition of a dead human body;
(B) Includes caskets and containers designed to be used in the grave around the casket or around cremated remains, commonly known as urns, urn vaults, outer burial containers, burial vaults, grave boxes, and grave liners; and
(C) Does not include cemetery merchandise as defined in § 46-1-102;
(5) “Guaranteed pre-need funeral contract” means the pre-need seller, where the contract has been funded in accordance with its terms, shall furnish at the time of death of the contract beneficiary, at no additional charge to the next of kin, the estate of the deceased, or other individual or entity responsible for the funeral, the merchandise and services selected, or the equivalent if the specific merchandise is not readily available, in the pre-need funeral contract. The only adjustment in the charge to the next of kin, the estate of the deceased or other individual or entity responsible for the funeral shall be for cash advance items. The pre-need seller shall be obligated to deliver the agreed upon merchandise and services under a fully funded pre-need funeral contract for the available funding at the time of death of the contract beneficiary. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the pre-need seller from receiving the available funding up to the seller’s current retail price for the merchandise and services at the time of death of the contract beneficiary;
(6) “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 contracts between individuals, partnerships, and corporations;
(7) “Nonguaranteed pre-need funeral contract” means, in addition to any cash advance items, the pre-need seller may charge the individual or entity responsible for the funeral any difference between the available funding and the seller’s current retail price at the time of death of the contract beneficiary for the merchandise and services selected in the pre-need funeral contract;
(8) “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, that, whether by assignment or otherwise, funds a pre-need funeral contract, the insured or annuitant being the person for whose funeral service the funds were paid;
(9)

(A) “Pre-need funeral contract” means any agreement, contract or plan requiring the payment of money in advance, whether in a lump sum or installments and whether funded by a pre-need funeral trust or prearrangement insurance policy or combination of a pre-need funeral trust and a prearrangement insurance policy, that is made or entered into with any person, association, partnership, firm or corporation for the final disposition of a dead human body, for funeral or burial services or for the furnishing of personal property or funeral or burial merchandise, wherein the use of the personal property or the funeral or burial merchandise or the furnishing of professional services by a funeral director or embalmer is not immediately required;
(B) Except as otherwise provided in § 62-5-406, “pre-need funeral contract” does not mean the furnishing of cemetery merchandise and services otherwise regulated under title 46, chapter 1, part 2;
(C) “Pre-need funeral contract” does not include a travel protection agreement for the coordination and arranging of all professional services related to the preparation for the purpose of transportation and subsequent transportation of a dead human body;
(10) “Pre-need funeral contract beneficiary” means the person upon whose death the pre-need funeral contract will be performed. This person may also be the purchaser of the pre-need funeral contract;
(11) “Pre-need funeral funds” means all payments of cash, or its equivalent, made to a pre-need seller or pre-need sales agent upon any pre-need funeral contract;
(12) “Pre-need funeral trust” means funds set aside in a trust account held by a trustee to provide for a pre-need funeral contract;
(13) “Pre-need sales agent” means an individual who has applied for and has been granted, or who engages in conduct requiring, registration to sell pre-need funeral contracts on behalf of a pre-need seller pursuant to this part;
(14) “Pre-need seller” means a funeral establishment or other individual, firm, partnership, company, corporation, or association that has applied for and has been granted, or that engages in conduct requiring, registration to sell pre-need funeral contracts pursuant to this part; and
(15)

(A) “Trustee” means a state or national bank, federally chartered savings and loan association, state chartered trust company, or, in the reasonable discretion of the commissioner upon the terms and conditions that the commissioner may require, a securities brokerage firm licensed and in good standing with appropriate state and federal regulatory authorities;
(B) Prior to July 1, 2011, “trustee” may also mean a certified public accountant who the commissioner determines meets all of the following requirements:

(i) The certified public accountant has served during the 2007 calendar year as the trustee for a trust account established pursuant to this part;
(ii) The certified public accountant is covered by errors and omissions liability insurance in an amount equal to or greater than the amount held in trust; and
(iii) The certified public accountant has complied with all previous reporting requirements required by statute and rules of the commissioner;
(C) On or after July 1, 2011, every trustee of every trust account shall be a trustee as set forth in subdivision (15)(A).
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