Texas Health and Safety Code 711.021 – Formation of Corporation to Maintain and Operate Cemetery
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(a) An individual, corporation, partnership, firm, trust, or association may not engage in a business for cemetery purposes in this state unless the person is a corporation organized for those purposes.
(b) A corporation conducting a business for cemetery purposes, including the sale of plots, may be formed only as provided by this section. The corporation must be a filing entity or foreign filing entity, as those terms are defined by § 1.002, Business Organizations Code.
Terms Used In Texas Health and Safety Code 711.021
- 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.
- 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 corporation, organization, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, association, and any other legal entity. See Texas Government Code 311.005
(b-1) The formation and governance of a nonprofit corporation for cemetery purposes is subject to Sections 711.022 and 711.023.
(c) The charter of a cemetery corporation formed after May 15, 1947, but before September 1, 1993, must state whether the corporation:
(1) is operated for profit or not for profit; and
(2) is operating a perpetual care cemetery or a nonperpetual care cemetery.
(d) A corporation formed before September 3, 1945, under statutory authority other than Section 5, Chapter 340, Acts of the 49th Legislature, Regular Session, 1945 (Article 912a-5, Vernon’s Texas Civil Statutes), to maintain and operate a cemetery is governed by this chapter only to the extent that this chapter does not conflict with the charter or articles of incorporation of the corporation.
(e) This section does not apply to a corporation chartered by the state before September 3, 1945, that, under its charter, bylaws, or dedication, created a perpetual care trust fund and maintains that fund in accordance with the corporation’s trust agreement, Chapter 712, and this chapter. The corporation may operate a perpetual care cemetery without amending the corporation’s charter as if it had been incorporated under this section.
(f) Any cemetery that begins its initial operations on or after September 1, 1993, shall be operated as a perpetual care cemetery in accordance with Chapter 712.
(g) This section does not apply to:
(1) a family, fraternal, or community cemetery that is not larger than 10 acres;
(2) an unincorporated association of plot owners not operated for profit;
(3) a church, a religious society or denomination, or an entity solely administering the temporalities of a church or religious society or denomination; or
(4) a public cemetery belonging to this state or a county or municipality.
(h) A cemetery corporation, including a corporation described by Subsection (d), that does not operate as a perpetual care cemetery in accordance with Chapter 712 may not use the words “perpetual care” or “endowment care,” or any other term that suggests “perpetual care” or “endowment care” standards, in:
(1) the cemetery’s name; or
(2) any advertising relating to the cemetery.