Terms Used In Tennessee Code > Title 46 > Chapter 1 - Regulation of Cemeteries

• 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.
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• Cemetery: means any land or structure in this state dedicated to and used, or intended to be used, for interment of human remains. See Tennessee Code 46-1-102
• Cemetery company: means an individual, partnership, corporation, or association, now or hereafter organized, owning or controlling cemetery lands or property and conducting the business of a cemetery. See Tennessee Code 46-1-102
• Cemetery merchandise: means personal property sold by a cemetery company, such as foundations, markers, memorials, memorial bases, monuments, urns, vases, and lawn and mausoleum crypts. See Tennessee Code 46-1-102
• Cemetery operator: means any owner, director, principal, manager, member, stockholder with a majority ownership interest, or other person who has any ownership interest in, or has any control over, the financial operations of a cemetery company. See Tennessee Code 46-1-102
• Cemetery purposes: means all things requisite or necessary for, or incident or convenient to, the establishment, maintenance, management, operation, improvement and conduct of a cemetery, the preparation of the premises for interment and the interment of the human dead, and the care, preservation and embellishment of cemetery property. See Tennessee Code 46-1-102
• Chambers: A judge's office.
• Code: includes the Tennessee Code and all amendments and revisions to the code and all additions and supplements to the code. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Columbarium: means a structure, room or space in a building or structure used, or intended to be used, for the interment of cremated human remains. See Tennessee Code 46-1-102
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of commerce and insurance. See Tennessee Code 46-1-102
• Commodity: includes , but is not limited to, memorials consisting of permanent monuments or gravemarkers of marble, granite or bronze, bronze plaques, or bronze vases, and foundations or footings of the memorials. See Tennessee Code 46-1-102
• Consumer price index: means the consumer price index (all items-United States city average), as published by the United States department of labor, bureau of labor statistics. See Tennessee Code 46-1-102
• 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.
• Crypt: means a chamber of sufficient size to inter the remains of a deceased person. See Tennessee Code 46-1-102
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Defense attorney: Represent defendants in criminal matters.
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Embezzlement: In most states, embezzlement is defined as theft/larceny of assets (money or property) by a person in a position of trust or responsibility over those assets. Embezzlement typically occurs in the employment and corporate settings. ^{Source: OCC}
• Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• General fund: means the sum total of specific funds placed in a single fund. See Tennessee Code 46-1-102
• grave space: means a space of ground in a cemetery used or intended to be used for interment, the beautification of the ground, or the memorialization of the deceased person. See Tennessee Code 46-1-102
• Improvement care: means the continual maintenance of the cemetery grounds and graves in keeping with a properly maintained cemetery, including cutting of grass, raking and cleaning of cemetery plots at reasonable intervals, and pruning of shrubs and trees. See Tennessee Code 46-1-102
• Indictment: The formal charge issued by a grand jury stating that there is enough evidence that the defendant committed the crime to justify having a trial; it is used primarily for felonies.
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Interment: means any lawful disposition of the remains of a deceased person as provided by law. See Tennessee Code 46-1-102
• Interment right: means the right to inter human remains in a particular space in a cemetery, including, but not limited to a grave space, mausoleum crypt, niche, memorial bench, or scattering garden. See Tennessee Code 46-1-102
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lands: includes lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights thereto and interests therein, equitable as well as legal. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Lawn crypts: means pre-installed, below-the-ground concrete chambers, either single or double depth, covered by earth or sod. See Tennessee Code 46-1-102
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Mausoleum crypts: means chambers contained in a structure or building constructed of reinforced concrete, whether assembled above or below ground. See Tennessee Code 46-1-102
• Memorial care: includes , but is not limited to, resetting or straightening tipped commodities, replacing damaged commodities, and providing for the general maintenance of commodities. See Tennessee Code 46-1-102
• Month: means a calendar month. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• National Bank: A bank that is subject to the supervision of the Comptroller of the Currency. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is a bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department. A national bank can be recognized because it must have "national" or "national association" in its name. ^{Source: OCC}
• Niche: means a space in a columbarium used, or intended to be used, for the interment of the cremated remains of one (1) or more deceased persons. See Tennessee Code 46-1-102
• 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 a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Pre-need: means the time prior to death when the use of cemetery merchandise or services is not actually required. See Tennessee Code 46-1-102
• Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• real property: include lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights thereto and interests therein, equitable as well as legal. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in a perceivable form. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• remains: means the body of a deceased person, including the body in any stage of decomposition, and cremated remains. See Tennessee Code 46-1-102
• Representative: when applied to those who represent a decedent, includes executors and administrators, unless the context implies heirs and distributees. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Services: means acts performed by a cemetery company on its premises in the final interment of human remains or the installation of cemetery merchandise used in connection with final interment. See Tennessee Code 46-1-102
• sex: means a person's immutable biological sex as determined by anatomy and genetics existing at the time of birth and evidence of a person's biological sex. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• signed: includes a mark, the name being written near the mark and witnessed, or any other symbol or methodology executed or adopted by a party with intention to authenticate a writing or record, regardless of being witnessed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Specific funds: means funds identified with cemetery merchandise to be delivered, or services to be performed, as specified in a certain contract and earmarked as having been paid by a certain purchaser. See Tennessee Code 46-1-102
• State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Trustor: The person who makes or creates a trust. Also known as the grantor or settlor.
• Undeveloped: means real property that is not presently suitable for interment, entombment or inurnment as described in the purchase agreement. See Tennessee Code 46-1-102
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• written: includes printing, typewriting, engraving, lithography, and any other mode of representing words and letters. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Year: means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105