Montana Code Annotated
Part 8. Perpetually Maintained Cemeteries -- Trusts
37-19-822. Cemetery perpetual care and maintenance fund

37-19-822. Cemetery perpetual care and maintenance fund. (1) A perpetual care and maintenance fund established pursuant to the provisions of this part for the purpose of administration, care, and maintenance of a cemetery, including lots, grave spaces, crypts, niches, burial rights, or other land or buildings, is a trust fund.
(2) The net income from the fund must be used by the owners, managers, or officers and directors of a cemetery company exclusively for the care and maintenance of the cemetery and may not be used for any other purpose.
(3) The principal of a perpetual care and maintenance fund must in all cases remain intact and inviolate and must be administered with the same care, skill, prudence, and diligence, under the circumstances then prevailing, that a prudent person would use to accomplish the purpose of the trust as required by this section and reflected in the trust document.
(4) Each cemetery company shall maintain at a minimum the following:
(a) a general ledger and general journal or comparable books of entry showing all receipts, disbursements, assets, liabilities, and income of the perpetual care and maintenance fund;
(b) documents supporting and verifying each asset of the fund; and
(c) a trust agreement.
(5) The board may require a cemetery company to provide an accounting or audit of its perpetual care and maintenance fund.
(6) Each cemetery company shall deposit not less than 15% of the gross proceeds of each sale of a lot, grave space, crypt, niche, or burial right, as determined by the board, into the perpetual care and maintenance fund.
(7) In establishing a perpetual care and maintenance fund, a cemetery company may from time to time adopt plans for the general care and maintenance of its cemetery.
(8) A perpetual care and maintenance fund may receive, take, and hold any real or personal property that is bequeathed, devised, granted, given, or otherwise contributed to it.
History: En. Sec. 11, Ch. 52, L. 1997.

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