Oregon Statutes 97.810 – Endowment care and nonendowed care cemeteries
(1) As used in ORS § 97.810 to 97.920:
Terms Used In Oregon Statutes 97.810
- Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
- City: includes any incorporated village or town. See Oregon Statutes 174.100
- 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.
- Irrevocable trust: A trust arrangement that cannot be revoked, rescinded, or repealed by the grantor.
- Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
- Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
- Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
(a) ‘Endowment care cemetery’ means a cemetery that maintains an endowment care fund placed in an irrevocable trust fund.
(b) ‘Grave liner’ means a burial receptacle designed to be installed in a grave, as defined in ORS § 97.010, to assist in preventing the ground from collapsing.
(2) An endowment care cemetery shall deposit with the trustee or custodian of its endowment care fund the following amounts received from the sale of plots, niches, crypts or private mausoleums:
(a) At least 15 percent of the gross sales price with a minimum of $5 for each grave sold without a grave liner installed at the time of sale or, when the gross sales price is paid in installments, at least 15 percent of each installment until at least 15 percent of the gross sales price has been deposited, with a minimum of $5 for each grave sold without a grave liner installed at the time of sale.
(b) At least nine percent of the gross sales price for each grave sold with a grave liner installed at the time of sale or, when the gross sales price is paid in installments, at least nine percent of each installment until at least nine percent of the gross sales price has been deposited.
(c) At least five percent of the gross sales price for each niche or, when the gross sales price is paid in installments, at least five percent of each installment until at least five percent of the gross sales price has been deposited.
(d) At least five percent of the gross sales price for each crypt or, when the gross sales price is paid in installments, at least five percent of each installment until at least five percent of the gross sales price has been deposited.
(e) At least five percent of the gross sales price for each private mausoleum or, when the gross sales price is paid in installments, at least five percent of each installment until at least five percent of the gross sales price has been deposited.
(3) The cemetery authority shall, within 30 days from the receipt of a payment, deposit with the trustee or custodian of its endowment care fund any payment received by the cemetery authority that is:
(a) Required by subsection (2) of this section to be paid into the fund; or
(b) A payment for special care, gifts, grants, contributions, devises or bequests made with respect to the separate or special care of a particular plot, grave, niche, crypt, mausoleum, monument or marker or that of a particular family.
(4) Within 75 days of the end of its fiscal year, each endowment care cemetery, except one owned by a city or a county, shall file with the Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services a statement containing the following information pertaining to the endowment care fund:
(a) The total amount invested in bonds, securities, mortgages and other investments;
(b) The total amount of cash on hand not invested at the close of the previous calendar or fiscal year;
(c) The income earned by investments in the preceding calendar or fiscal year;
(d) The amounts of such income expended for maintenance in the preceding calendar or fiscal year;
(e) The amount paid into the fund in the preceding calendar or fiscal year; and
(f) Such other items as the director may from time to time require to show accurately the complete financial condition of the trust on the date of the statement.
(5) All of the information appearing on the statement must be verified by an owner or officer of the cemetery authority, and the cemetery authority shall maintain a copy of the statement in the business office of the cemetery authority.
(6) The director may require, as often as the director deems necessary, the cemetery authority to make under oath a detailed report of the condition and assets of any cemetery endowment care fund.
(7) At the time of the filing of the statements of its endowment care fund each cemetery authority shall pay to the director an annual fee as follows:
(a) Up to 100 interments per year, $40.
(b) Over 100 interments per year, $100.
(8) All fees received by the director under this section shall be immediately turned over to the State Treasurer who shall deposit the moneys in the Consumer and Business Services Fund created under ORS § 705.145.
(9) A cemetery may not operate as an endowment care, permanent maintenance or free care cemetery until the provisions of this section are complied with.
(10) The head of all contracts and certificates of ownership or deeds referring to plots in an endowment care cemetery must contain the following statement: ‘This cemetery is an endowment care cemetery,’ in at least 10-point black type.
(11) All contracts and certificates of ownership or deeds referring to plots in an endowment care cemetery must contain the following statement: ‘Endowment care means the general care and maintenance of all developed portions of the cemetery and memorials erected thereon.’
(12) A cemetery that otherwise complies with this section may be designated an endowment care cemetery even though it contains a small area that may be sold without endowed care, if it is separately set off from the remainder of the cemetery. The head of all contracts and certificates of ownership or deeds referring to plots in this area must contain the phrase ‘nonendowed care’ in at least 10-point black type.
(13) A nonendowed care cemetery is a cemetery that does not deposit in an endowment care fund the minimum amounts specified in subsection (2) of this section.
(14) A cemetery authority may not in any way advertise or represent that it operates wholly or partially as an endowment care cemetery, or otherwise advertise or represent that it provides general care or maintenance of all or portions of the cemetery or memorials erected thereon, unless the provisions of this section are complied with. [Amended by 1955 c.545 § 2; 1965 c.396 § 4; 1967 c.213 § 1; 1987 c.295 § 1; 1995 c.144 § 4; 1999 c.66 § 1; 2001 c.796 § 23; 2007 c.661 § 5; 2011 c.163 § 1; 2019 c.8 § 6]