(a) Upon the death of the contract beneficiary, the trustee or the insurance company shall pay the funeral establishment or other provider that furnished the services or merchandise only after they have been furnished with a certified copy of the death certificate of the person, or other proof of death acceptable to the trustee or insurance company together with a copy of the statement of funeral merchandise and services, signed by the funeral director or other provider and representative of the contract beneficiary, setting forth that all of the terms and conditions of the pre-need funeral contract have been fully performed by the funeral establishment or other provider.

Ask a business law question, get an answer ASAP!
Thousands of highly rated, verified business lawyers.
Click here to chat with a lawyer about your rights.

Terms Used In Tennessee Code 62-5-410

  • 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
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Funeral establishment: means any business, whether a proprietorship, partnership, firm, association or corporation, engaged in arranging, directing or supervising funerals for profit or other benefit, the preparing of dead human bodies for burial, the disposition of dead human bodies, the provision or maintenance of place for the preparation for disposition, or for the care or disposition of human bodies. See Tennessee Code 62-5-101
  • Guaranteed pre-need funeral contract: means the pre-need seller, where the contract has been funded in accordance with its terms, shall furnish at the time of death of the contract beneficiary, at no additional charge to the next of kin, the estate of the deceased, or other individual or entity responsible for the funeral, the merchandise and services selected, or the equivalent if the specific merchandise is not readily available, in the pre-need funeral contract. See Tennessee Code 62-5-403
  • Insurance company: means any corporation, limited liability company, association, partnership, society, order, individual or aggregation of individuals engaging in or proposing or attempting to engage as principals in any kind of insurance business, including the exchanging of reciprocal contracts between individuals, partnerships, and corporations. See Tennessee Code 62-5-403
  • Person: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Pre-need funeral contract: means any agreement, contract or plan requiring the payment of money in advance, whether in a lump sum or installments and whether funded by a pre-need funeral trust or prearrangement insurance policy or combination of a pre-need funeral trust and a prearrangement insurance policy, that is made or entered into with any person, association, partnership, firm or corporation for the final disposition of a dead human body, for funeral or burial services or for the furnishing of personal property or funeral or burial merchandise, wherein the use of the personal property or the funeral or burial merchandise or the furnishing of professional services by a funeral director or embalmer is not immediately required. See Tennessee Code 62-5-403
  • Pre-need funeral trust: means funds set aside in a trust account held by a trustee to provide for a pre-need funeral contract. See Tennessee Code 62-5-403
  • Prearrangement insurance policy: means a life insurance policy, annuity contract, or other insurance contract, or any series of contracts or agreements in any form or manner, issued by an insurance company, that, whether by assignment or otherwise, funds a pre-need funeral contract, the insured or annuitant being the person for whose funeral service the funds were paid. See Tennessee Code 62-5-403
  • 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
  • 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
  • Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
  • Trustee: means a state or national bank, federally chartered savings and loan association, state chartered trust company, or, in the reasonable discretion of the commissioner upon the terms and conditions that the commissioner may require, a securities brokerage firm licensed and in good standing with appropriate state and federal regulatory authorities. See Tennessee Code 62-5-403
(b)

(1)After payment for the merchandise and services as set forth in the pre-need funeral contract, the trustee or insurance company shall pay any balance remaining in the pre-need funeral trust fund or the prearrangement insurance policy to the purchaser, the purchaser’s estate or otherwise named beneficiary.
(2) Subdivision (b)(1) does not apply to the interest earned on a guaranteed pre-need funeral contract funded by a prearrangement insurance policy or an irrevocable pre-need funeral trust. The seller of the guaranteed pre-need funeral contract shall disclose in the guaranteed pre-need funeral contract the disposition of all interest earned on the contract.