N.J. Admin. Code § 13:44J-5.3

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 24, December 18, 2024

Section 13:44J-5.3 - Trust funds

(a) Any maintenance, preservation, perpetual care or other trust fund, when income from the fund is dedicated to the maintenance and preservation of the entire cemetery, shall be commingled with the Maintenance and Preservation Fund.

(b) No trust fund may be commingled with the Maintenance and Preservation Fund if the income of such fund is dedicated to the maintenance and preservation of an individual lot, or private mausoleum, sarcophagus or other private structure for interment or memorialization.

(c) Monies required to be deposited into the Maintenance and Preservation Fund shall be paid to the fund on a monthly basis. Such deposits shall be made by the last day of the month following the month in which the monies were received. In the event of an installment sale of an interment space or niche, the cemetery company may make the required deposit at the time the deed is issued or when the payments are received.

(d) No cemetery company may take credit for overpayment into the Maintenance and Preservation Fund except with consent of the New Jersey Cemetery Board.

(e) In any case in which multiple cremains are interred in one space, the maintenance and preservation interment deposit shall be made for each individual cremains.

(f) The maintenance and preservation deposit shall not be made where a living lot owner transfers an interment space or spaces to a charitable organization without monetary consideration. This is not a transfer pursuant to N.J.S.A. 45:27-13, provided that the charitable organization submits proof of its charitable status to the cemetery company and the charitable organization arranges for a payment into the Maintenance and Preservation Fund when the interment space or niche is sold, transferred or assigned.

(g) A cemetery company shall pay fees and charges required by N.J.S.A. 45:27-13 into its Maintenance and Preservation Fund in any case in which it gives an interment space, niche, or right of interment, free of charge at the time the space or right is provided and calculated at existing sales price at that time.

(h) Distribution of interment spaces or niches by a society in liquidation does not constitute a transfer and the cemetery company is not obliged to collect and deposit into the Maintenance and Preservation Fund the amounts set forth in N.J.S.A. 45:27-13. A cemetery company may, however, before recording the assignment of the interment spaces or niches, require that future general maintenance charges be assumed by the grantee or may require an endowment in place of the general maintenance charges.

(i) Except as set forth in (j) below, membership or religious corporations or unincorporated associations or societies that sell or transfer interment spaces or niches to its members or their families shall transmit to the cemetery company for deposit in the Maintenance and Preservation Fund at least 15 percent of the gross sales price for similar interment spaces or niches established by the cemetery company at the time of the resale or transfer. A credit shall be given for any money previously paid into the Maintenance and Preservation Fund in connection with the interment space or niche.

(j) The deposit to the Maintenance and Preservation Fund pursuant to (i) above shall not be required if:

1. Title to the interment space or niche is not transferred and the interment space or niche was purchased by the membership or religious corporation after December 1, 1971;

2. The membership or religious corporation is organized as a not-for-profit entity and is operated exclusively for religious or charitable purposes provided to members or authorized designees of members; and

3. A fee was paid by the membership or religious corporation for deposit into the Maintenance and Preservation Fund when the interment space or niche was originally purchased.

N.J. Admin. Code § 13:44J-5.3

Amended by 52 N.J.R. 1849(a), effective 10/5/2020