                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

DEFINITIONS (§ 54.1-2310)

As used in this chapter, unless the context requires a different meaning:
		&#8220;Advertisement&#8221; means any information disseminated or placed
before the public.
		&#8220;At-need&#8221; means at the time of death or while death is imminent.
		&#8220;Board&#8221; means the Cemetery Board.
		&#8220;Cemetery&#8221; means any land or structure used or intended to be used
for the interment of human remains. The sprinkling of ashes or their burial in a
biodegradable container on church grounds or their placement in a columbarium on
church property shall not constitute the creation of a cemetery.
		&#8220;Cemetery company&#8221; means any person engaged in the business of (i)
selling or offering for sale any grave or entombment right in a cemetery and
representing to the public that the entire cemetery, a single grave, or
entombment right therein will be perpetually cared for; (ii) selling property or
services, vaults, grave liners, urns, memorials, markers, and monuments 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 performance
of the service may be delayed more than 120 days after receipt of the initial
payment on account of such sale; or (iii) maintaining a facility used for the
interment or disposal of the remains and required to maintain perpetual care or
preneed trust funds in accordance with this chapter. Such property or services
include but are not limited to burial vaults, mausoleum crypts, garden crypts,
lawn crypts, memorials, and marker bases, but shall not include graves or
incidental additions such as dates, scrolls, or other supplementary matter
representing not more than ten percent of the total contract price.
		&#8220;Compliance agent&#8221; means a natural person who owns or is employed
by a cemetery company to assure the compliance of the cemetery company with the
provisions of this chapter.
		&#8220;Cost requirement&#8221; means the total cost to the seller of the
property or services subject to the deposit requirements of § 54.1-2325
required by that seller&#8217;s total contracts.
		&#8220;Department&#8221; means the Department of Professional and Occupational
Regulation.
		&#8220;Garden crypt&#8221; means a burial receptacle, usually constructed of
reinforced concrete, installed in quantity on gravel or tile underlay. Each
crypt becomes an integral part of a given garden area and is considered real
property.
		&#8220;General funds&#8221; means the sum total of specific funds put together
in a single fund.
		&#8220;Grave&#8221; means a below-ground right of interment.
		&#8220;In-person communication&#8221; means face-to-face communication and
telephonic communication.
		&#8220;Interment&#8221; means all forms of final disposal of human remains
including, but not limited to, earth burial, mausoleum entombment and niche or
columbarium inurnment. The sprinkling of ashes on church grounds shall not
constitute interment.
		&#8220;Lawn crypt&#8221; means a burial vault with some minor modifications
for the improvement of drainage in and around the receptacle and is considered
personal property.
		&#8220;Licensee&#8221; means any person holding a valid license issued by the
Board.
		&#8220;Marker base&#8221; means the visible part of the marker or monument
upon which the marker or monument rests and is considered personal property.
		&#8220;Mausoleum crypt&#8221; means a burial receptacle usually constructed of
reinforced concrete and usually constructed or assembled above the ground and is
considered real property.
		&#8220;Memorials, markers or monuments&#8221; means the object used to
identify the deceased and is considered personal property.
		&#8220;Perpetual care trust fund&#8221; means a fund created to provide income
to a cemetery to provide care, maintenance, administration and embellishment of
the cemetery.
		&#8220;Preneed&#8221; means at any time other than either at the time of death
or while death is imminent.
		&#8220;Preneed burial contract&#8221; means a contract for the sale of
property 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 performance of the service may be delayed for more than 120 days
after the receipt of initial payment on account of such sale. Such property
includes but is not limited to burial vaults, mausoleum crypts, garden crypts,
lawn crypts, memorials, and marker bases, but shall not include graves or
incidental additions such as dates, scrolls, or other supplementary matter
representing not more than ten percent of the total contract price.
		&#8220;Resale&#8221; means the sale of an interment right in a cemetery
governed by this chapter to a person other than the cemetery company owning the
cemetery in which the right exists by a person other than that cemetery company
or its authorized agent. The term &#8220;resale&#8221; shall not be construed to
include the transfer of interment rights upon the death of the owner.
		&#8220;Retail sales price&#8221; means the standard, nondiscounted price as
listed on the general price list required by § 54.1-2327.
		&#8220;Seller&#8221; means the cemetery company.
		&#8220;Seller&#8217;s trust account&#8221; means the total specific trust
funds deposited from all of a specific seller&#8217;s contracts, plus income on
such funds allotted to that seller.
		&#8220;Solicitation&#8221; means initiating contact with consumers with the
intent of influencing their selection of a cemetery.
		&#8220;Specific trust funds&#8221; means funds identified to a certain
contract for personal property or services.

HISTORY: 1998, cc. 708, 721; 2000, c. 36; 2011, c. 792.