New Mexico Statutes
Article 32 - Funeral Services
Section 61-32-3 - Definitions. (Repealed effective July 1, 2024.)

As used in the Funeral Services Act:
A. "board" means the board of funeral services;
B. "committal service" means a service at a place of interment or entombment that follows a funeral conducted at another location;
C. "cremains" means cremated remains;
D. "cremation" means the reduction of a dead human body by direct flame to a residue that includes bone fragments;
E. "crematory" means every place or premises that is devoted to or used for cremation and pulverization of the cremains;
F. "crematory authority" means the individual who is ultimately responsible for the operation of a crematory;
G. "department" means the regulation and licensing department;
H. "direct disposer" means a person licensed to engage solely in providing direct disposition at a direct disposition establishment, licensed pursuant to the Funeral Services Act, as provided in that act;
I. "direct disposition" means only the disposition of a dead human body as quickly as possible, without a direct disposer performing or arranging a funeral, graveside service, committal service or memorial service, whether public or private, and without embalming of the body unless embalming is required by the place of disposition;
J. "direct supervision" means that the supervising funeral service practitioner is physically present with and in direct control of the person being trained;
K. "disposition" means the final disposal of a dead human body, whether it be by earth interment, above-ground interment or entombment, cremation, burial at sea or delivery to a medical school, when the medical school assumes complete responsibility for the disposal of the body following medical study;
L. "embalmer" means a person licensed to engage in embalming and preparing a dead human body for funeral service at a funeral establishment that is licensed pursuant to the Funeral Services Act;
M. "embalming" means the disinfection, preservation and restoration, when possible, of a dead human body by a licensed funeral service practitioner, licensed embalmer or a licensed funeral service intern under the supervision of a licensed funeral service practitioner;
N. "ennichement" means interment of cremains in a niche in a columbarium, whether in an urn or not;
O. "entombment" means interment of a casketed body or cremains in a crypt in a mausoleum;
P. "establishment" means every office, premises or place of business where the practice of funeral service or direct disposition is conducted or advertised as being conducted and includes commercial establishments that provide for the practice of funeral service or direct disposition services exclusively to licensed funeral or direct disposition establishments or a school of medicine;
Q. "funeral" means a period following death in which there is an organized, purposeful, time-limited, group-centered ceremony or rite, whether religious or not, with the body of the deceased present;
R. "funeral arranger" means a person licensed to engage in arrangements and directing of funeral services at a funeral establishment that is licensed pursuant to the Funeral Services Act;
S. "funeral merchandise" means that personal property offered for sale in connection with the transportation, funeralization or disposition of a dead human body, including the enclosure into which a dead human body is or cremains are directly placed, and excluding mausoleum crypts, interment enclosures preset in a cemetery and columbarium niches;
T. "funeral service intern" means a person licensed to be in training for the practice of funeral service under the supervision and instruction of a funeral service practitioner at a funeral establishment or commercial establishment, licensed pursuant to the Funeral Services Act;
U. "funeral service practitioner" means a person licensed to engage in the practice of funeral service at a funeral establishment or commercial establishment that is licensed pursuant to the Funeral Services Act;
V. "funeral services" means those immediate post-death activities related to a dead human body and its care and disposition, whether with or without rites or ceremonies; but "funeral services" does not include disposition of the body by a school of medicine following medical study;
W. "general supervision" means that the supervising funeral service practitioner is not necessarily physically present in the establishment with the person being trained but is available for advice and assistance;
X. "graveside service" means a funeral held at the graveside only, excluding a committal service that follows a funeral conducted at another location;
Y. "jurisprudence examination" means an examination prescribed by the board on the statutes, rules and regulations pertaining to the practice of funeral service or direct disposition, including the Funeral Services Act, the rules of the board, state health regulations governing human remains and the Vital Statistics Act [Chapter 24, Article 14 NMSA 1978];
Z. "licensee in charge" means a funeral service practitioner who is ultimately responsible for the conduct of a funeral or commercial establishment and its employees; or a direct disposer who is ultimately responsible for the conduct of a direct disposition establishment and its employees;
AA. "make arrangements" means advising or counseling about specific details for a funeral, graveside service, committal service, memorial service, disposition or direct disposition;
BB. "memorial service" means a gathering of persons for recognition of a death without the presence of the body of the deceased;
CC. "practice of funeral service" means those activities allowed under the Funeral Services Act by a funeral service practitioner, funeral arranger, embalmer or funeral service intern; and
DD. "pulverization" means the process that reduces cremains to a granular substance.
History: 1978 Comp., § 61-32-3, enacted by Laws 1993, ch. 204, § 3; 1995, ch. 158, § 1; 1999, ch. 284, § 2; 2012, ch. 48, § 5; 2019, ch. 164, § 1.
Delayed repeals. — For delayed repeal of this section, see 61-32-31 NMSA 1978.
Repeals and reenactments. — Laws 1993, ch. 204, § 32 repealed former 61-32-3 NMSA 1978, as amended by Laws 1983, ch. 137, § 1, containing definitions, and § 3 of the act enacted a new section, effective June 18, 1993.
The 2019 amendment, effective July 1, 2019, defined "embalmer" and "funeral arranger", and revised the definitions of "embalming" and "practice of funeral service", as used in the Funeral Services Act; added a new Subsection L and redesignated former Subsections L through P as Subsections M through Q, respectively; in Subsection M, after "practitioner", added "licensed embalmer"; added a new Subsection R and redesignated former Subsections Q through BB as Subsections S through DD, respectively; and in Subsection CC, after "practitioner", added "funeral arranger, embalmer".
The 2012 amendment, effective July 1, 2012, changed the name of the act; eliminated definitions to conform to the conversion of associate funeral services practitioner and assistant funeral services practitioner licenses to intern licenses; in the introductory sentence and in Subsections H, R, S, W and AA substituted "Funeral Services Act" for "Thanatopractice Act"; deleted former Subsection A, which defined "assistant funeral services practitioner"; deleted former Subsection B, which defined "associate funeral services practitioner", in Subsection A, after "board of", deleted "thanatopractice" and added "funeral services"; in Subsection I, after "quickly as possible, without", added "a direct disposer performing or arranging"; in Subsection L, after "body by a licensed funeral service practitioner", deleted "a licensed associate funeral service practitioner"; added Subsection T; in Subsection AA, after "funeral service practitioner", deleted "associate funeral service practitioner, assistant funeral service practitioner"; and deleted former Subsection DD, which defined "thanatopractice".
The 1999 amendment, effective June 18, 1999, inserted "at a funeral establishment or commercial establishment, licensed pursuant to the Thanatopractice Act" in Subsections A and B; substituted "that act" for "the Thanatopractice Act" in Subsections A, B, and J; added Subsections D, O, and P; redesignated former Subsections D to M and N to AA as Subsections E to N and Q to DD, respectively; substituted "supervising funeral service practitioner" for "supervisor" in Subsections L and V; substituted "includes bone fragments" for "may include bone fragments" in Subsection F; inserted "at a direct disposition establishment, licensed pursuant to the Thanatopractice Act" in Subsection J; substituted "direct control of the person being trained" for "control of the person being supervised" in Subsection L; deleted "or release of custody of the body to the family or personal representative or other legal representative" from the end of Subsection M; deleted "a licensed assistant funeral service practitioner" preceding "or a licensed funeral service intern" in Subsection N; substituted "licensed to be" for "licensed pursuant to the Thanatopractice Act who is" and added the language beginning "at a funeral establishment" in Subsection T; deleted "by the board" following "person licensed" and substituted the language beginning "at a funeral establishment" for language which specifically described funeral establishments in Subsection U; substituted "in the establishment with the person being trained" for "with the person being supervised" in Subsection V; deleted "and graded" preceding "by the board" in Subsection X; and substituted "post-death" for "post-dead" in Subsection DD.
The 1995 amendment, effective April 5, 1995, substituted "a dead human body" for "the dead body" in Subsection F, and in Subsection M, added all the language following "dead human body".
Salesmen of insurance funding funeral plans. — A person licensed to sell life insurance specifically designed to fund funeral plans need not be licensed to practice funeral service. 1987 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 87-60.