SB-0038, As Passed Senate, May 1, 2003
SUBSTITUTE FOR
SENATE BILL NO. 38
A bill to amend 1869 PA 12, entitled
"An act to authorize and encourage the formation of corporations
to establish rural cemeteries; to provide for the care and
maintenance thereof; to provide for the revision and codification
of the laws relating to cemeteries, mausoleums, crypts, vaults,
crematoriums, and other means of disposing of the dead; to make
an appropriation therefor; and to impose certain duties upon the
department of commerce,"
by amending section 7a (MCL 456.107a).
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
1 Sec. 7a. (1) The fund required to be set aside under
2 section 7 for the
purpose of keeping and maintaining the grounds
3 of such cemeteries
established after the effective date of this
4 1966 amendatory act perpetual care regarding cemeteries
5 established after March 10, 1967, or mausoleums which are not
6 located in the confines of a dedicated cemetery and are
7 established after the
effective date of this 1966 amendatory
8 act March 10,
1967, shall be created by the
deposit of
1 $25,000.00 into the fund before any sale of burial rights,
2 entombment rights or columbarium rights is made.
3 (2) With respect to all cemeteries or mausoleums, whether
4 established before or
after the effective date of this 1966 act
5 March 10, 1967, the fund shall be added to by payment,
6 perpetually, into the
same each month of not less than 15% of
7 all proceeds received during the previous month from the sales of
8 burial rights, entombment rights, or columbarium rights made
9 after the effective
date of this 1966 amendatory act March 10,
10 1967. No total deposit for a single adult burial right sale or
11 assignment shall be less than $20.00. Notwithstanding the
12 minimum amount required
to be paid into such the endowment fund
13 from the proceeds of
sales of lots or burial rights, as provided
14 herein, any cemetery which that has an
endowment fund of more
15 than $125,000.00 and exceeding $10,000.00 per acre of the
16 developed portion of such
the cemetery, may make application
17 apply to the cemetery commission for a waiver of the 15% or
18 $20.00 minimum requirement. The cemetery commission shall take
19 such testimony and make such investigation investigate
as it
20 deems considers advisable pursuant to such the
application.
21 If the cemetery commission determines that the applicant has an
22 endowment fund of more than $125,000.00 and exceeding $10,000.00
23 per acre of the developed
portion of such the cemetery and that
24 the income from such the
fund is sufficient to meet the then
25 current cost of keeping the applicant's cemetery in good
26 condition, it shall grant a waiver of the 15% and $20.00 minimum
27 requirement , and
it shall grant such appropriate
1 modifications with
respect to contributions to such the fund.
2 as it deems
advisable.
3 (3) No portion of the funds required to be set aside under
4 section 7 shall be used directly or indirectly for salaries of
5 the officers or directors of the cemetery association or
6 corporation , and
only the earnings from such the funds shall
7 be used to keep the
grounds and graves in good condition for
8 perpetual care.
9 (4) The endowment care fund may be administered by the board
10 of directors itself, or
by such the trustees, individual or
11 corporate, as it may select under the terms of a trust instrument
12 or declaration. If it selects trustees to administer the fund,
13 its liability shall be
limited to reasonable care in such the
14 selection. Directors may serve as trustees if at least 2 members
15 of the board are selected.
16 (5) The funds established under this section shall be
17 invested subject to the
provisions of sections 1 and 2 of Act
18 No. 177 of the Public
Acts of 1937, as amended, being sections
19 555.201 and 555.202 of
the Compiled Laws of 1948, and the
20 investment of any fund
for endowment care heretofore or hereafter
21 made which meets the
requirements of said act is ratified and
22 confirmed section 7302 of the estates and protected
individuals
23 code, 1998 PA 386, MCL 700.7302.
24 (6) In addition to all other remedies at law or in equity
25 which that any interested party may have, the
attorney general
26 and the circuit court of the county in which the cemetery is
27 located shall have all the powers and jurisdiction granted to the
Senate Bill No. 38 as amended April 30, 2003
1 attorney general and
court as to trusts covered by Act No. 280
2 of the Public Acts of
1915, as amended, being sections 554.351 to
3 554.353 of the
Compiled Laws of 1948 1915 PA
280, MCL 554.351 to
4 554.353. The remedies
granted shall include all such
5 endowment care fund trusts without regard to uncertainty or
6 indefiniteness of the
its beneficiaries. thereof.
7 (7) <<As used in this section, "perpetual care" means all general
8 work necessary to keep the cemetery property in a presentable condition
9 at all times, including, but not limited to, the cutting of grass at
10 reasonable intervals; raking, cleaning, filling, seeding, and sodding of
11 graves; replacement, pruning, or removal of shrubs and trees in order to
12 assure access to interment rights; and the repair and maintenance of
13 enclosures, buildings, drives, walks, and the various memorial gardens.
14
15 >>
16 Enacting section 1. This amendatory act does not take
17 effect unless all of the following bills of the 92nd Legislature
18 are enacted into law:
19 (a) Senate Bill No. 37.
20 (b) Senate Bill No. 39.