West Virginia Code 47-14-1 – Declaration of policy; legislative intent
It is contrary to public policy for any person to receive, hold, control or manage funds or proceeds received from the sale of, or from a contract to sell, funeral services, funeral goods, burial goods or any one or combination of them, where payments for the same are made either outright or on an installment basis, prior to the death of the person or persons so purchasing them, or for whom they are purchased, unless that person holds, controls or manages those funds subject pursuant to the limitations prescribed by this article and the legislative rules promulgated pursuant thereto.
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 47-14-1
- Burial goods: means all merchandise supplied in regard to burial, or entombment in a mausoleum or inurnment in a columbarium, but does not include those services actually performed by a cemetery acting only as such, or the sale by any person of cemetery lots, land or interests therein, services incidental thereto, or the sale by any person of markers, memorials, monuments, equipment, crypts, urns, burial vaults or vaults constructed or to be constructed in a mausoleum or columbarium. See West Virginia Code 47-14-2
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Funds: means moneys or other consideration, other than premiums for insurance policies or annuities paid to a life insurance company, received pursuant to the sale of a preneed funeral contract, including interest accrued or earned thereon. See West Virginia Code 47-14-2
- Funeral goods: means those items of merchandise sold or offered for sale directly to the public by any person which will be used in connection with a funeral or alternative for final disposition of human remains, but does not include those services actually performed by a cemetery acting only as such, or the sale by the cemetery of cemetery lots, land or interest therein, services incidental thereto, or the sale by any person of markers, memorials, monuments, equipment, crypts, urns, burial vaults or vaults constructed or to be constructed in a mausoleum or columbarium. See West Virginia Code 47-14-2
- Funeral services: means those services usually performed by a licensed funeral establishment or director including, but not limited to, care and preparation of human remains and coordinating rites and ceremonies in connection with the disposition of human remains carried out at the request of any individual responsible for funeral and disposition arrangements. See West Virginia Code 47-14-2
- Person: means a natural person, partnership, firm, association or corporation, including any agent or employee thereof residing in or doing business in this state who is engaged in the selling of, making available of or providing of preneed funeral contracts, as defined herein, or who is the recipient of funds paid for such purpose. See West Virginia Code 47-14-2
- Preneed funeral contract: means any contract, agreement, mutual understanding, series or combination of contracts, agreements and mutual understandings, including a contract that is financed by the purchase of an insurance policy or annuity, under which, for a specified consideration paid in advance of death in a lump sum or by installments, a person promises to furnish or make available or provide funeral services, funeral goods or burial goods for use at a time determinable by the death of the contract beneficiary who is either named or implied therein. See West Virginia Code 47-14-2
It is the legislative intent that the provisions of this article shall be construed as a limitation upon the manner in which a person is permitted to accept funds in prepayment of funeral services to be performed in the future, or funeral or burial goods to be used in connection with the funeral or final disposition of human remains, so that at all times members of the public may have an opportunity to arrange and pay for funerals for themselves and their families in advance of need while at the same time providing all possible safeguards whereunder such prepaid funds cannot be dissipated, whether intentionally or not, in order that such funds are available for the payment of funeral services so arranged. Further, it is the legislative intent that no person may offer, sell or negotiate for the sale of a preneed funeral contract through anyone who is not licensed pursuant to the provisions of this article.