Florida Statutes 497.285 – Inactive cemeteries
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(1) A licensee shall be considered inactive upon the acceptance of the surrender of its license by the department or upon the nonreceipt by the department of the license renewal fees required by s. 497.265.
(2) A cemetery licensee licensed to engage in preneed sales shall cease all preneed sales to the public upon becoming inactive in regard to its cemetery license. At-need sales to the public shall cease within 30 days after becoming inactive.
(3) Any licensee desiring to surrender its license to the department shall first:
(a) File notice with the department.
Terms Used In Florida Statutes 497.285
- Care and maintenance: means the perpetual process of keeping a cemetery and its lots, graves, grounds, landscaping, roads, paths, parking lots, fences, mausoleums, columbaria, vaults, crypts, utilities, and other improvements, structures, and embellishments in a well-cared-for and dignified condition, so that the cemetery does not become a nuisance or place of reproach and desolation in the community. See Florida Statutes 497.005
- Cemetery: means a place dedicated to and used or intended to be used for the permanent interment of human remains or cremated remains. See Florida Statutes 497.005
- Department: means the Department of Financial Services. See Florida Statutes 497.005
- License: includes all authorizations required or issued under this chapter, except where expressly indicated otherwise, and shall be understood to include authorizations previously referred to as registrations or certificates of authority in chapters 470 and 497 as those chapters appeared in the 2004 edition of the Florida Statutes. See Florida Statutes 497.005
- Licensee: means the person or entity holding any license or other authorization issued under this chapter, except where expressly indicated otherwise. See Florida Statutes 497.005
- merchandise: means any personal property offered or sold by any person for use in connection with the final disposition, memorialization, interment, entombment, or inurnment of human remains or cremated remains, including, but not limited to, caskets, outer burial containers, alternative containers, cremation containers, cremation interment containers, urns, monuments, private mausoleums, flowers, benches, vases, acknowledgment cards, register books, memory folders, prayer cards, and clothing. See Florida Statutes 497.005
- Preneed: means any arrangement or method, of which the provider of funeral merchandise or services has actual knowledge, whereby any person agrees to furnish funeral merchandise or service in the future. See Florida Statutes 497.005
(b) Submit copies of its existing trust agreements.
(c) Resolve to the department’s satisfaction all findings and violations resulting from the last examination conducted.
(d) Pay all outstanding fines and invoices due the department.
(e) Submit its current license.
(4) Upon receipt of the notice, the department shall review the licensee’s:
(a) Trust funds.
(b) Trust agreements.
(c) Care and maintenance of the cemetery grounds.
(5) After a review to the department’s satisfaction, the department shall terminate the license.
(6)(a) The care and maintenance trust fund of a licensee shall be held intact and in trust after the licensee has become inactive, and funds in that trust fund shall be disbursed to the cemetery on a regular basis for the upkeep of the grounds.
(b) The merchandise trust fund of a licensee shall be held intact and in trust after the licensee has become inactive, and the funds in that trust fund shall be disbursed in accordance with the requirements of the written contracts until the fund has been exhausted.