Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 54.1 > Subtitle III > Chapter 28 > Article 1 - Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers

• Adult: means a person 18 years of age or more. See Virginia Code 1-203
• 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.
• At-need: means at the time of death or while death is imminent. See Virginia Code 54.1-2800
• Board: means the Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers. See Virginia Code 54.1-2800
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• 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.
• Cremate: means to reduce a dead human body to ashes and bone fragments by the action of fire. See Virginia Code 54.1-2800
• crematorium: means a facility containing a furnace for cremation of dead human bodies. See Virginia Code 54.1-2800
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Department: means the Department of Education. See Virginia Code 22.1-1
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Division superintendent: means the division superintendent of schools of a school division. See Virginia Code 22.1-1
• Embalmer: means any person engaged in the practice of embalming. See Virginia Code 54.1-2800
• Embalming: means the process of chemically treating the dead human body by arterial injection and cavity treatment or, when necessary, hypodermic tissue injection to reduce the presence and growth of microorganisms to temporarily retard organic decomposition. See Virginia Code 54.1-2800
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• 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}
• Funeral directing: means the for-profit profession of directing or supervising funerals, preparing human dead for burial by means other than embalming, or making arrangements for funeral services or the financing of funeral services. See Virginia Code 54.1-2800
• Funeral director: means any person engaged in the practice of funeral directing. See Virginia Code 54.1-2800
• Funeral service establishment: means any main establishment, branch, or chapel that is permanently affixed to the real estate and for which a certificate of occupancy has been issued by the local building official where any part of the profession of funeral directing, the practice of funeral services, or the act of embalming is performed. See Virginia Code 54.1-2800
• Funeral service licensee: means a person who is licensed in the practice of funeral services. See Virginia Code 54.1-2800
• 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.
• in writing: include any representation of words, letters, symbols, numbers, or figures, whether (i) printed or inscribed on a tangible medium or (ii) stored in an electronic or other medium and retrievable in a perceivable form and whether an electronic signature authorized by Chapter 42. See Virginia Code 1-257
• In-person communication: means face-to-face communication and telephonic communication. See Virginia Code 54.1-2800
• Next of kin: means any of the following persons, regardless of the relationship to the decedent: any person designated to make arrangements for the disposition of the decedent's remains upon his death pursuant to § 54. See Virginia Code 54.1-2800
• 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: includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 1-230
• Practice of funeral services: means engaging in the care and disposition of the human dead, the preparation of the human dead for the funeral service, burial or cremation, the making of arrangements for the funeral service or for the financing of the funeral service and the selling or making of financial arrangements for the sale of funeral supplies to the public. See Virginia Code 54.1-2800
• Preneed: means at any time other than at-need. See Virginia Code 54.1-2800
• Preneed funeral planning: means the making of arrangements prior to death for (i) the providing of funeral services or (ii) the sale of funeral supplies. See Virginia Code 54.1-2800
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Process: includes subpoenas, the summons and complaint in a civil action, and process in statutory actions. See Virginia Code 1-237
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• real estate: includes lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights and appurtenances thereto and interests therein, other than a chattel interest. See Virginia Code 1-219
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• School board: means the school board that governs a school division. See Virginia Code 22.1-1
• Solicitation: means initiating contact with consumers with the intent of influencing their selection of a funeral plan or funeral service provider. See Virginia Code 54.1-2800
• State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Superintendent: means the Superintendent of Public Instruction. See Virginia Code 22.1-1
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• United States: includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-255