Florida Statutes 497.468 – Disclosure of information to the public
Current as of: 2024 | Check for updates
|
Other versions
A preneed licensee offering to provide burial rights, merchandise, or services to the public shall:
(1) Provide by telephone, upon request, accurate information regarding the retail prices of burial merchandise and services offered for sale by the licensee.
(2) Fully disclose all regularly offered services and merchandise prior to the customer’s selection of burial services or merchandise. The full disclosure required shall identify the prices of all burial rights, services, and merchandise provided by the licensee.
(3) Not make any false or misleading statements of the legal requirement as to the necessity of a casket or outer burial container.
(4) Provide a good faith estimate of all fees and costs the customer will incur to use any burial rights, merchandise, or services purchased.
(5) Provide to the customer, upon the purchase of any burial right, merchandise, or service, a written contract the form of which has been approved by the licensing authority pursuant to procedures specified by rule. The written contract shall:
(a) Be completed as to all essential provisions prior to the signing of the contract by the customer.
Terms Used In Florida Statutes 497.468
- Burial right: means the right to use a grave space, mausoleum, columbarium, ossuary, or scattering garden for the interment, entombment, inurnment, or other disposition of human remains or cremated remains. See Florida Statutes 497.005
- Casket: means a rigid container that is designed for the encasement of human remains and that is usually constructed of wood or metal, ornamented, and lined with fabric. See Florida Statutes 497.005
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Department: means the Department of Financial Services. See Florida Statutes 497.005
- Division: means the Division of Funeral, Cemetery, and Consumer Services within the Department of Financial Services. 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
- Monument: means any product used for identifying a grave site and cemetery memorials of all types, including monuments, markers, and vases. See Florida Statutes 497.005
- Outer burial container: means an enclosure into which a casket is placed and includes, but is not limited to, vaults made of concrete, steel, fiberglass, or copper; sectional concrete enclosures; crypts; and wooden enclosures. 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
- Preneed contract: means any arrangement or method for which the provider of funeral merchandise or services receives any payment in advance for funeral or burial merchandise and services after the death of the contract beneficiary. See Florida Statutes 497.005
- service: means any service offered or provided in connection with the final disposition, memorialization, interment, entombment, or inurnment of human remains or cremated remains. See Florida Statutes 497.005
(b) Provide an itemization of the amounts charged for all services, merchandise, and fees, which itemization shall be clearly and conspicuously segregated from everything else on the written contract.
(c) Provide a description of the merchandise covered by the contract to include, when applicable, model, manufacturer, and other relevant specifications.
(6) Provide the licensee’s policy on cancellation and refunds to each customer.
(7) In a manner established by rule of the licensing authority, provide on the signature page of the written contract, clearly and conspicuously in boldfaced 10-point type or larger, the following:
(a) The words “purchase price.”
(b) The amount to be trusted.
(c) The amount to be refunded upon contract cancellation.
(d) The amounts allocated to merchandise, services, and cash advances.
(e) The toll-free number of the department which is available for questions or complaints.
(f) A statement that the customer shall have 30 days from the date of execution of contract to cancel the contract and receive a total refund of all moneys paid for items not used.
(8) Display in its offices for free distribution to all potential customers, and provide to all customers at the time of sale, a brochure explaining how and by whom preneed sales are regulated, summarizing consumer rights under the law, and providing the name, address, and phone number of the department’s consumer affairs division. The format and content of the brochure shall be as prescribed by rule. The licensing authority may cause the publication of such brochures and by rule require that preneed licensees purchase and make available such brochures as so published, in the licensee’s offices, to all potential customers.
(9) Provide to each customer a complete description of any monument, marker, or memorialization to be placed at the gravesite pursuant to the preneed contract.