Texas cremation, cemetery and prepaid funeral rights

A Texas crematory may not cremate remains within 48 hours of the time of death on the death certificate unless the wait is waived in writing by a justice of the peace or medical examiner of the county where the death occurred, or by a court order. Those offices must adopt a written policy for requesting a waiver, covering regular business hours and other times, including weekends and holidays. If timing matters to your family, ask the funeral home whether a waiver will be requested. [1]

Texas’s perpetual care cemetery chapter does not apply to family, fraternal or community cemeteries of 10 acres or less, nonprofit unincorporated associations of plot owners, church or religious cemeteries, or public cemeteries owned by the state, a county or a municipality. That exemption does not by itself tell you what care such a cemetery provides. Ask for its written care arrangements and how they are funded. [2]

A cemetery corporation covered by the chapter must deposit in its perpetual care fund at least the greater of $1.75 per square foot or 15% of the total purchase price for ground conveyed as perpetual care property; the greater of $105 (or $60 for a crypt reached only through another crypt) or 7% for a crypt interment right; and the greater of $35 or 15% for a niche interment right. Ask whether the space you are buying is perpetual care property. [3]

Texas’s prepaid funeral law covers prearranged or prepaid funeral or cemetery services and funeral merchandise. It does not cover a grave, marker, monument, tombstone, crypt, niche, plot or lawn crypt unless it is sold in contemplation of trade for a covered funeral service or funeral merchandise, and it does not cover transportation protection agreements. Ask the seller which items on your contract fall under the prepaid funeral law. [4]

For a trust-funded contract, the seller may keep up to half of each payment until it has received 10% of the total contract price. The rest must be deposited within 30 days of collection, either in an insured restricted account or in trust with a Texas financial institution. Ask how much of each payment the seller is keeping. [5][6]

You may cancel a prepaid funeral contract before it matures by written notice to the seller on the Texas Department of Banking’s form. If you cancel a trust-funded contract during its first year while your required payments are current, you are entitled to the greater of 90% of what you paid or the amount deposited in trust. Otherwise, cancelling a trust-funded contract returns what you actually paid plus half of the earnings on it, less the amount the seller was allowed to keep, subject to the statute’s exceptions, and the seller must pay within 30 days of the notice. Keep a copy of your cancellation notice. [7][8]

A purchaser may irrevocably waive the right to cancel, but only in a separate writing signed by both the purchaser and the seller. Cancelling an insurance-funded contract does not automatically cancel the insurance policy that funds it; the policy may be cancelled under its own terms for its cash surrender value. Ask to see any waiver and the policy before you sign. [9][10]