760 ILCS 100/4

(760 ILCS 100/4) (from Ch. 21, par. 64.4)

Sec. 4. Care funds; deposits; investments. Whenever a cemetery authority owning, operating, controlling or managing a privately operated cemetery accepts care funds, either in connection with the sale or giving away at an imputed value of an interment right, entombment right or inurnment right, or in pursuance of a contract, or whenever, as a condition precedent to the purchase or acceptance of an interment right, entombment right or inurnment right, such cemetery authority requires the establishment of a care fund or a deposit in an already existing care fund, then such cemetery authority shall execute and deliver to the person from whom received an instrument in writing which shall specifically state: (a) the nature and extent of the care to be furnished, and (b) that such care shall be furnished only in so far as the net income derived from the amount deposited in trust will permit (the income from the amount so deposited, less necessary expenditures of administering the trust, shall be deemed the net income), and (c) that not less than the following amounts will be set aside and deposited in trust:

1. For interment rights, $1 per square foot of the space sold or 15% of the sales price or imputed value, whichever is the greater, with a minimum of $25 for each individual interment right.

2. For entombment rights, not less than 10% of the sales price or imputed value with a minimum of $25 for each individual entombment right.

3. For inurnment rights, not less than 10% of the sales price or imputed value with a minimum of $15 for each individual inurnment right.

4. For any transfer of interment rights, entombment rights, or inurnment rights recorded in the records of the cemetery authority, excepting only transfers between members of the immediate family of the transferor, a minimum of $25 for each such right transferred. For the purposes of this paragraph "immediate family of the transferor" means the spouse, parents, grandparents, children, grandchildren, and siblings of the transferor.

5. Upon an interment, entombment, or inurnment in a grave, crypt, or niche in which rights of interment, entombment, or inurnment were originally acquired from a cemetery authority prior to January 1, 1948, a minimum of $25 for each such right exercised.

6. For the special care of any lot, grave, crypt, or niche or of a family mausoleum, memorial, marker, or monument, the full amount received.

Such setting aside and deposit shall be made by such cemetery authority not later than 30 days after the close of the month in which the cemetery authority gave away for an imputed value or received the final payment on the purchase price of interment rights, entombment rights, or inurnment rights, or received the final payment for the general or special care of a lot, grave, crypt or niche or of a family mausoleum, memorial, marker or monument; and such amounts shall be held by the trustee of the care funds of such cemetery authority in trust in perpetuity for the specific purposes stated in said written instrument. For all care funds received by a cemetery authority, except for care funds received by a cemetery authority pursuant to a specific gift, grant, contribution, payment, legacy, or contract that are subject to investment restrictions more restrictive than the investment provisions set forth in this Act, and except for care funds otherwise subject to a trust agreement executed by a person or persons responsible for transferring the specific gift, grant, contribution, payment, or legacy to the cemetery authority that contains investment restrictions more restrictive than the investment provisions set forth in this Act, the cemetery authority may, without the necessity of having to obtain prior approval from any court in this State, designate a new trustee in accordance with this Act and invest the care funds in accordance with this Section, notwithstanding any contrary limitation contained in the trust agreement.

Any such cemetery authority engaged in selling or giving away at an imputed value interment rights, entombment rights or inurnment rights, in conjunction with the selling or giving away at an imputed value any other merchandise or services not covered by this Act, shall be prohibited from increasing the sales price or imputed value of those items not requiring a care fund deposit under this Act with the purpose of allocating a lesser sales price or imputed value to items that require a care fund deposit.

In the event any sale that would require a deposit to such cemetery authority's care fund is made by a cemetery authority on an installment basis, and the installment contract is factored, discounted, or sold to a third party, the cemetery authority shall deposit the amount due to the care fund within 30 days after the close of the month in which the installment contract was factored, discounted, or sold. If, subsequent to such deposit, the purchaser defaults on the contract such that no care fund deposit on that contract would have been required, the cemetery authority may apply the amount deposited as a credit against future required deposits.

The trust authorized by this Section shall be a single purpose trust fund. In the event of the seller's bankruptcy, insolvency, or assignment for the benefit of creditors, or an adverse judgment, the trust funds shall not be available to any creditor as assets of the cemetery authority or to pay any expenses of any bankruptcy or similar proceeding, but shall be retained intact to provide for the future maintenance of the cemetery. Except in an action by the Comptroller to revoke a license issued pursuant to this Act and for creation of a receivership as provided in this Act, the trust shall not be subject to judgment, execution, garnishment, attachment, or other seizure by process in bankruptcy or otherwise, nor to sale, pledge, mortgage, or other alienation, and shall not be assignable except as approved by the Comptroller. The changes made by this amendatory Act of the 91st General Assembly are intended to clarify existing law regarding the inability of licensees to pledge the trust.

(Source: P.A. 91-7, eff. 6-1-99.)