West Virginia Code 35-5B-8 – Disbursement of trust funds upon performance of contract; mausoleum construction required
(a) Upon performance of the preneed cemetery company contract, the seller shall certify to the trustee by affidavit the amount of specific funds in the trust, identified with the contract performed, which the trustee shall pay to the seller. The seller may in its records itemize the property, goods or services and the consideration paid or to be paid therefor, to which the deposit requirements of this article apply. In such case the seller may, upon certification to the trustee of performance or delivery of such property, goods or services and of the amount of specific trust funds identified in its records with such items, request disbursement of that portion of the specific funds deposited pursuant to the contract, which the trustee shall pay to the seller.
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 35-5B-8
- Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
- Cemetery: means and includes all land and appurtenances including roadways, office buildings, outbuildings and other structures used or intended to be used for or in connection with the interment of human remains. See West Virginia Code 35-5B-1
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Delivery: means that the seller has transferred physical possession of the identified goods, has attached or installed such goods at the designated interment space or has actually furnished preneed cemetery company contract services. See West Virginia Code 35-5B-1
- Preneed: means at any time other than either at the time of death or while death is imminent. See West Virginia Code 35-5B-1
- Preneed cemetery company contract: means a contract for the sale of real and personal property, goods or services used in connection with interring or disposing of the remains or commemorating the memory of a deceased human being, where delivery of the property or performance of the service may be delayed for more than one hundred twenty days after the receipt of initial payment on account of such sale. See West Virginia Code 35-5B-1
- seller: means any person, partnership, firm or corporation engaged in the business of operating a cemetery or selling property, goods or services used in connection with interring or disposing of the remains or commemorating the memory of a deceased human being, where delivery of the property or goods or performance of the service may be delayed later than one hundred twenty days after receipt of the initial payment on account of such sale. See West Virginia Code 35-5B-1
- Specific trust funds: means funds identified with a certain preneed cemetery company contract for personal property, goods or services. See West Virginia Code 35-5B-1
- Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
- Trustee: means any natural person, partnership or corporation, including any bank, trust company, broker-dealer, foreign state charter trust, savings and loan association or credit union which receives money in trust pursuant to any agreement or contract made pursuant to the provisions of this article. See West Virginia Code 35-5B-1
(b) If the preneed contract provides for two or more persons, the seller may, at its option, designate in its records the consideration paid for each individual in the preneed cemetery company contract. In such case, upon performance of that portion of the contract identified with a particular individual, the seller may request, by certification in the manner described above, the disbursement of trust funds applicable to that portion of the contract, which the trustee shall pay to the seller.
(c) Any cemetery company that sells space in an unconstructed mausoleum must commence construction within seven years from the date of the first sale or when eighty percent of the spaces in the original mausoleum plan are sold, whichever occurs first.