815 ILCS 390/19

(815 ILCS 390/19) (from Ch. 21, par. 219)

Sec. 19. Construction or development of spaces.

(a) The construction or development of undeveloped interment, entombment or inurnment spaces shall be commenced on that phase, section or sections of undeveloped ground or section of lawn crypts, mausoleums, garden crypts, columbariums or cemetery spaces in which sales are made within 3 years of the date of the first such sale. The seller shall give written notice to the Comptroller no later than 30 days after the first sale. Such notice shall include a description of the project. Once commenced, construction or development shall be pursued diligently to completion. The construction must be completed within 6 years of the first sale. If construction or development is not commenced or completed within the times specified herein, any purchaser may surrender and cancel the contract and upon cancellation shall be entitled to a refund of the actual amounts paid toward the purchase price plus interest attributable to such amount earned while in trust; provided however that any delay caused by strike, shortage of materials, civil disorder, natural disaster or any like occurrence beyond the control of the seller shall extend the time of such commencement and completion by the length of such delay.

(b) At any time within 12 months of a purchaser's entering into a pre-need contract for undeveloped interment, entombment or inurnment spaces, a purchaser may surrender and cancel his or her contract and upon cancellation shall be entitled to a refund of the actual amounts paid toward the purchase price plus interest attributable to such amount earned while in trust. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the cancellation and refund rights specified in this paragraph shall terminate as of the date the seller commences construction or development of the phase, section or sections of undeveloped spaces in which sales are made. After the rights of cancellation and refund specified herein have terminated, if a purchaser defaults in making payments under the pre-need contract, the seller shall have the right to cancel the contract and withdraw from the trust fund the entire balance to the credit of the defaulting purchaser's account as liquidated damages. In such event, the trustee shall deliver said balance to the seller upon its certification, and upon receiving said certification the trustee may rely thereon and shall not be liable to anyone for such reliance.

(c) During the construction or development of interment, entombment or inurnment spaces, upon the sworn certification by the seller and the contractor to the trustee the trustee shall disburse from the trust fund the amount equivalent to the cost of performed labor or delivered materials as certified. Said certification shall be substantially in the following form:

We, the undersigned, being respectively the Seller and Contractor, do hereby certify that the Contractor has performed labor or delivered materials or both to (address of property) .........., in connection with a contract to .........., and that as of this date the value of the labor performed and materials delivered is $.......

We do further certify that in connection with such contract there remains labor to be performed, and materials to be delivered, of the value of $........

This Certificate is signed (insert date).

............ ............

Seller Contractor

A person who executes and delivers a completion certificate with actual knowledge of a falsity contained therein shall be considered in violation of this Act and subject to the penalties contained herein.

(d) Except as otherwise authorized by this Section, every seller of undeveloped spaces shall provide facilities for temporary interment, entombment or inurnment for purchasers or beneficiaries of contracts who die prior to completion of the space. Such temporary facilities shall be constructed of permanent materials, and, insofar as practical, be landscaped and groomed to the extent customary in the cemetery industry in that community. The heirs, assigns, or personal representative of a purchaser or beneficiary shall not be required to accept temporary underground interment spaces where the undeveloped space contracted for was an above ground entombment or inurnment space. In the event that temporary facilities as described in this paragraph are not made available, upon the death of a purchaser or beneficiary, the heirs, assigns, or personal representative is entitled to a refund of the entire sales price paid plus undistributed interest attributable to such amount while in trust.

(e) If the seller delivers a completed space acceptable to the heirs, assigns or personal representative of a purchaser or beneficiary, other than the temporary facilities specified herein, in lieu of the undeveloped space purchased, the seller shall provide the trustee with a delivery certificate and all sums deposited under the pre-need sales contract, including the undistributed income, shall be paid to the seller.

(f) Upon completion of the phase, section or sections of the project as certified to the trustee by the seller and the contractor and delivery of the deed or certificate of ownership to the completed interment, entombment, or inurnment space to all of the purchasers entitled to receive those ownership documents, the trust fund requirements set forth herein shall terminate and all funds held in the preconstruction trust fund attributable to the completed phase, section or sections, including interest accrued thereon, shall be returned to the seller.

(g) This Section shall not apply to the sale of undeveloped spaces if there has been any such sale in the same phase, section or sections of the project prior to the effective date of this Act.

(Source: P.A. 91-357, eff. 7-29-99; 92-419, eff. 1-1-02.)