Terms Used In South Carolina Code > Title 40 > Chapter 19 - Embalmers and Funeral Directors

• Administrator: means the individual to whom the director has delegated authority to administer the programs of a specific board or of a professional or occupational group for which the department has regulatory authority or has delegated authority to administer the programs of a specific board;
  
  (2) "Authorization to practice" or "Practice authorization" means the approval to practice the specified profession, engage in the specified occupation, or use a title protected under this article, which has been granted by the applicable board. See South Carolina Code 40-1-20
• Advertisement: means the publication, dissemination, circulation, or placing before the public an announcement or statement in a newspaper, magazine, or other publication in the form of a book, notice, circular, pamphlet, letter, handbill, poster, bill, sign, placard, card, label, or tag, or over radio, television, or Internet. See South Carolina Code 40-19-20
• 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.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Applicant: means a person that files an application for a license pursuant to this act. See South Carolina Code 35-11-105
• Apprentice: means a person who is preparing to become licensed for the practice of embalming and funeral directing under the supervision and instruction of a person licensed for the practice in this State and who is registered with the board pursuant to § 40-19-120. See South Carolina Code 40-19-20
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Authorized delegate: means a person a licensee designates to provide money services on behalf of the licensee. See South Carolina Code 35-11-105
• Bank: means an institution organized under federal or state law which:
  
  (a) accepts demand deposits or deposits that the depositor may use for payment to third parties and which engages in the business of making commercial loans; or
  
  (b) engages in credit card operations and maintains only one office that accepts deposits, does not accept demand deposits or deposits that the depositor may use for payments to third parties, does not accept a savings or time deposit less than one hundred thousand dollars, and does not engage in the business of making commercial loans. See South Carolina Code 35-11-105
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Board: means the South Carolina State Board of Funeral Service. See South Carolina Code 40-19-20
• Branch funeral home: means an establishment separate and apart from the licensed parent funeral home that has embalming facilities, a chapel, a lay-out room, or a sales room, or any combination of these. See South Carolina Code 40-19-20
• Commissioner: means the South Carolina Attorney General. See South Carolina Code 35-11-105
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Control: means :
  
  (a) ownership of, or the power to vote, directly or indirectly, at least twenty-five percent of a class of voting securities or voting interests of a licensee or person in control of a licensee;
  
  (b) power to elect a majority of executive officers, managers, directors, trustees, or other persons exercising managerial authority of a licensee or person in control of a licensee; or
  
  (c) power to exercise directly or indirectly, a controlling influence over the management or policies of a licensee or person in control of a licensee. See South Carolina Code 35-11-105
• 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.
• Cremation: means the reduction of the dead body by intense heat to residue. See South Carolina Code 40-19-20
• Crematory: means an establishment in which the dead body is reduced to residue by intense heat. See South Carolina Code 40-19-20
• Currency exchange: means receipt of revenues from the exchange of money of one government for money of another government. See South Carolina Code 35-11-105
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation;
  
  (5) "Director" means the Director of the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation or the director's official designee;
  
  (6) "Licensee" means a person granted an authorization to practice pursuant to this article and refers to a person holding a license, permit, certification, or registration granted pursuant to this article;
  
  (7) "Licensing act" means the individual statute or regulations, or both, of each regulated profession or occupation which include, but are not limited to, board governance, the qualifications and requirements for authorization to practice, prohibitions, and disciplinary procedures;
  
  (8) "Person" means an individual, partnership, or corporation;
  
  (9) "Profession" or "occupation" means a profession or occupation regulated or administered, or both, by the department pursuant to this article. See South Carolina Code 40-1-20
• Disposition: means the final disposal of the body whether by earth interment, aboveground burial, cremation, burial at sea, or delivery to a medical institution for lawful dissection and experimentation or removal from the State pursuant to obtaining a burial transit permit. See South Carolina Code 40-19-20
• Embalmer: means a person licensed by the board to disinfect and preserve or attempt to disinfect and preserve the dead human body, entirely or in part, by the use of application of chemicals, fluids, or gases, externally or internally, or both, by their introduction into the body by vascular or hypodermic injections, by direct application into the organs or cavities, or by other method and includes the restoration or attempted restoration of the appearance of the dead human body. See South Carolina Code 40-19-20
• Embalming: means the disinfection of the dead human body by replacing certain body fluids with preserving and disinfecting chemicals. See South Carolina Code 40-19-20
• 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.
• Executive officer: means a president, chairperson of the executive committee, chief financial officer, responsible individual, or other individual who performs similar functions. See South Carolina Code 35-11-105
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• Federal Reserve System: The central bank of the United States. The Fed, as it is commonly called, regulates the U.S. monetary and financial system. The Federal Reserve System is composed of a central governmental agency in Washington, D.C. (the Board of Governors) and twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks in major cities throughout the United States. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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.
• funeral: means a period following death in which there are religious services or other rites or ceremonies with the body of the deceased present. See South Carolina Code 40-19-20
• Funeral director: means a person licensed by the board to engage for hire or profit in the profession of arranging, directing, or supervising funerals. See South Carolina Code 40-19-20
• Funeral merchandise: means that personal property used in connection with the conduct of funerals or with the transportation and final disposition of a dead human body including, but not limited to, caskets, cremation caskets, urns, and burial clothing. See South Carolina Code 40-19-20
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Inspector: means an inspector employed by the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. See South Carolina Code 40-19-20
• 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.
• Licensee: means a person licensed pursuant to this act. See South Carolina Code 35-11-105
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Manager: means a licensed funeral director who has been licensed in this State for at least one year, who is a full-time regular employee, and who is responsible for and has the binding authority from the owner for the day-to-day management of funeral establishments or crematories including compliance with all applicable laws governed by this chapter and Chapters 7 and 8, Title 32. See South Carolina Code 40-19-20
• Money: means a medium of exchange that is authorized or adopted by the United States or a foreign government. See South Carolina Code 35-11-105
• Money services: means money transmission or currency exchange. See South Carolina Code 35-11-105
• Money transmission: means selling or issuing payment instruments, stored value, or receiving money or monetary value for transmission. See South Carolina Code 35-11-105
• mortuary: means an establishment where the practice of funeral service and embalming is practiced. See South Carolina Code 40-19-20
• Nolo contendere: No contest-has the same effect as a plea of guilty, as far as the criminal sentence is concerned, but may not be considered as an admission of guilt for any other purpose.
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• 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.
• Owner: means a sole proprietor, partnership, limited partnership, corporation, limited liability corporation, or any business entity possessing authority and control over a funeral establishment. See South Carolina Code 40-19-20
• 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.
• Payment instrument: means a check, draft, money order, traveler's check, or other instrument for the transmission or payment of money or monetary value, whether or not negotiable. See South Carolina Code 35-11-105
• Person: means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited-liability company, association, joint venture, government, governmental subdivision, agency or instrumentality, public corporation, or another legal or commercial entity. See South Carolina Code 35-11-105
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Practice of funeral service: means :
  
  (a) engaging in providing shelter, care, and custody of the human dead;
  
  (b) the practice of preparing the human dead by embalming or other methods for burial or other disposition;
  
  (c) arranging for the transportation of the human dead;
  
  (d) making arrangements at or before the time of death, financial or otherwise, including arrangements for cremation, for providing these services, or the sale of funeral merchandise, whether for present or future use; provided, that no funeral director, embalmer, funeral company, cemetery, or related entity shall charge a fee for the assignment to the funeral director, embalmer, funeral company, cemetery, or related entity of an insurance policy providing burial expenses, excluding preneed contracts as provided in § 32-7-35; and
  
  (e) engaging in the practice or performing any functions of funeral directing or embalming as presently recognized by persons engaged in these functions. See South Carolina Code 40-19-20
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form. See South Carolina Code 35-11-105
• Retail sales outlet: means an establishment wherein funeral merchandise is sold or provided, or both, to the general public. See South Carolina Code 40-19-20
• State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or a territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See South Carolina Code 35-11-105
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Stored value: means monetary value that is evidenced by an electronic record. See South Carolina Code 35-11-105
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Temporary restraining order: Prohibits a person from an action that is likely to cause irreparable harm. This differs from an injunction in that it may be granted immediately, without notice to the opposing party, and without a hearing. It is intended to last only until a hearing can be held.
• 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.
• Unsafe or unsound practice: means a practice or conduct by a person licensed to engage in money transmission or an authorized delegate of such a person, which creates the likelihood of material loss, insolvency, or dissipation of the licensee's assets, or otherwise materially prejudices the interests of its customers. See South Carolina Code 35-11-105