West Virginia Code 35-5B-5 – Requirements for preneed cemetery company contracts
A preneed cemetery company contract shall:
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 35-5B-5
- Cemetery: means and includes all land and appurtenances including roadways, office buildings, outbuildings and other structures used or intended to be used for or in connection with the interment of human remains. See West Virginia Code 35-5B-1
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Delivery: means that the seller has transferred physical possession of the identified goods, has attached or installed such goods at the designated interment space or has actually furnished preneed cemetery company contract services. See West Virginia Code 35-5B-1
- Grave: means a below-ground right of interment. See West Virginia Code 35-5B-1
- Preneed: means at any time other than either at the time of death or while death is imminent. See West Virginia Code 35-5B-1
- seller: means any person, partnership, firm or corporation engaged in the business of operating a cemetery or selling property, goods or services used in connection with interring or disposing of the remains or commemorating the memory of a deceased human being, where delivery of the property or goods or performance of the service may be delayed later than one hundred twenty days after receipt of the initial payment on account of such sale. See West Virginia Code 35-5B-1
(1) Be written in clear understandable language and printed in easy-to-read type, size and style;
(2) Include the name and address of the seller, the contract buyer and the person for whom the contract is bought if other than the contract buyer;
(3) Contain a complete description of the property, goods or services bought, including an itemization of the retail price of the property, goods or services bought and, specifically, the retail price of the monument, marker, installation, foundation, opening and closing of the grave site, and any other charges. Failure to provide this information is a violation of subsection (f), section one hundred two, article six, chapter forty-six-a of this code, relating to unfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts or practices;
(4) Clearly disclose whether the price of the property, goods or services bought is guaranteed;
(5) Provide that if the particular property, goods or services specified in the contract are unavailable at the time of delivery, the seller shall furnish property, goods or services similar in size and style and equal in quality of material and workmanship, and that the representative of the deceased has the right to reasonably choose the property, goods or services to be substituted; and
(6) Be executed in duplicate and a signed copy given to the buyer.