MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2006 Regular Session
To: Insurance
By: Senator(s) Kirby
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 75-63-53, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CLARIFY THE DEFINITION OF THE TERM "INSURANCE" IN REGARD TO PRE-NEED FUNERAL CONTRACTS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 75-63-53, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
75-63-53. As used in this article, unless the context requires otherwise:
(a) "Buyer" means the person who purchases the pre-need contract.
(b) "Cash advance item" means any item of service or merchandise described to a purchaser as a "cash advance," "accommodation," "cash disbursement" or similar term. A cash advance item is also any item obtained from a third party and paid for by the funeral provider on the purchaser's behalf. Cash advance items may include, but are not limited to: cemetery or crematory services; pallbearers; public transportation; clergy honoraria; flowers; musicians or singers; nurses; obituary notices; gratuities and death certificates.
(c) "Cemetery" means an organization as defined in Section 41-43-33, Mississippi Code of 1972.
(d) "Contract insured" means the person upon whose death will initiate the performance of a pre-need contract.
(e) "Contract provider" means the funeral home, cemetery or other providers of merchandise and/or service in a pre-need contract that will be responsible for performing a pre-need contract.
(f) "Financial institution" means a bank, trust company, savings bank, or savings and loan association chartered and authorized to do business in this state.
(g) "Funeral home" means a business licensed under Section 73-11-55, Mississippi Code of 1972.
(h) "Inflation proof contract" means a pre-need contract that establishes a fixed price for funeral services and merchandise without regard to future price increases.
(i) "Insurance" means a life insurance policy, an annuity policy, or a Class A or Class B burial insurance policy.
(j) "Merchandise" means personal property associated with the disposal of or memorializing a deceased human being, including, but not limited to, a casket, burial vault, burial clothes, urn or monument.
(k) "Pre-need contract" means any contract, agreement or any series or combination of contracts or agreements, whether funded by trust deposits or insurance, or any combination thereof, which has for a purpose the furnishing or performance of funeral services, or the furnishing or delivery of merchandise, of any nature in connection with the final disposition of a dead human body, to be furnished or delivered at a time determinable by the death of the person whose body is to be disposed of but shall not mean the furnishing of a cemetery lot, crypt, niche or mausoleum.
(l) "Seller" means the person who sells a pre-need contract.
(m) "Services" means services of any nature in connection with the final disposition of a dead human body.
(n) "Standard contract" means a pre-need contract that applies the trust funds or insurance proceeds to the purchase price of specific funeral services and specific merchandise at the time of death of the contract insured without a guarantee against future price increases.
(o) "Trust" means an express trust created by a trust instrument whereby a trustee has the duty to administer a trust asset for the benefit of a named pre-need contract insured.
(p) "Trustee" means an original, added or successor trustee including its successor by merger or consolidation.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.