*SB0520.1*
January 22, 2025
SENATE BILL No. 520
_____
DIGEST OF SB 520 (Updated January 21, 2025 9:17 am - DI 140)
Citations Affected: IC 23-14.
Synopsis: Perpetual care fund deposits for columbariums. Exempts
certain veteran focused nonprofit cemeteries from certain deposit and
trustee requirements with respect to a perpetual care fund. Provides
that certain nonprofit cemeteries must deposit into the perpetual care
fund $30 for every niche in the cemetery.
Effective: July 1, 2025.
Busch
January 16, 2025, read first time and referred to Committee on Veterans Affairs and The
Military.
January 21, 2025, reported favorably — Do Pass.
SB 520—LS 7493/DI 153 January 22, 2025
First Regular Session of the 124th General Assembly (2025)
PRINTING CODE. Amendments: Whenever an existing statute (or a section of the Indiana
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SENATE BILL No. 520
A BILL FOR AN ACT to amend the Indiana Code concerning
business and other associations.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Indiana:
1 SECTION 1. IC 23-14-48-3, AS AMENDED BY P.L.61-2008,
2 SECTION 1, IS AMENDED TO READ AS FOLLOWS [EFFECTIVE
3 JULY 1, 2025]: Sec. 3. (a) A perpetual care fund shall be established
4 under this chapter as follows:
5 (1) In the case of a cemetery for earth burials, by the application
6 and payment to the perpetual care fund of an amount at least
7 equal to:
8 (A) fifteen percent (15%) of the sale price; or
9 (B) eighty cents ($0.80) per square foot of area;
10 of each burial plot sold or transferred, whichever is greater.
11 (2) In the case of a community or public mausoleum, or
12 community or public garden crypt, by the application and
13 payment to the perpetual care fund of an amount at least equal to:
14 (A) eight percent (8%) of the sale price; or
15 (B) one hundred dollars ($100) per crypt sold or transferred;
16 whichever is greater.
17 (3) In the case of a community columbarium, by the application
SB 520—LS 7493/DI 153 2
1 and payment to the perpetual care fund of an amount at least
2 equal to twenty dollars ($20) per niche sold or transferred.
3 (b) From the sale price, any payment on the sale price, or in a
4 nonmonetary transfer, the owner shall pay an amount in proportion to
5 the requirements of subsection (a)(1) through (a)(3) to the perpetual
6 care fund. The payment must be in cash and shall be deposited with the
7 trustee of the fund:
8 (1) not more than thirty (30) days after the end of the month in
9 which payments on the sale are received; or
10 (2) not more than thirty (30) days after the end of the month in
11 which there was a transfer which did not involve a sale.
12 (c) The payments required by this section are required to be paid
13 only on the original sale or transfer and not again for any subsequent
14 resale or transfer of the same ground interment rights, crypt, or niche.
15 (d) The trustee of a fund established under this chapter must keep
16 the fund segregated from any other fund or account belonging to the
17 owner of the cemetery.
18 (e) In the case of a cemetery described in section 5(d) of this
19 chapter, the owner shall deposit thirty dollars ($30) in the
20 perpetual care fund for each niche in the columbarium or
21 community columbarium.
22 SECTION 2. IC 23-14-48-5, AS AMENDED BY P.L.33-2019,
23 SECTION 5, IS AMENDED TO READ AS FOLLOWS [EFFECTIVE
24 JULY 1, 2025]: Sec. 5. (a) In addition to meeting the requirements of
25 sections 1 through 3 of this chapter, a cemetery that:
26 (1) is organized after June 30, 1997, by incorporation, or any
27 other means; or
28 (2) has its first burial, entombment, or inurnment after June 30,
29 1997;
30 shall, before disposing of a burial lot or right, making a sale of a burial
31 lot or right, or making its first burial, entombment, or inurnment cause
32 to be deposited in a financial institution one hundred thousand dollars
33 ($100,000) in cash in the perpetual care fund established under this
34 chapter for the maintenance of the cemetery.
35 (b) The cemetery owner shall designate the financial institution as
36 trustee of the fund. The financial institution must execute an affidavit
37 stating that it has accepted the trusteeship of the fund and that the one
38 hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) has been deposited in the fund.
39 The cemetery shall:
40 (1) exhibit the affidavit in the principal office of the cemetery;
41 (2) keep the affidavit available at all times for examination; and
42 (3) record the affidavit in the miscellaneous records in the office
SB 520—LS 7493/DI 153 3
1 of the recorder of the county in which the cemetery is located.
2 (c) When the cemetery has deposited in the perpetual care fund, as
3 required by this section, two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000):
4 (1) the cemetery shall submit proof of this fact to its trustee; and
5 (2) the trustee shall pay over to the cemetery one hundred
6 thousand dollars ($100,000) that the cemetery deposited in the
7 fund under subsection (a).
8 (d) This section does not apply in the case of a cemetery
9 consisting of a columbarium or a community columbarium:
10 (1) installed before January 1, 2026; and
11 (2) owned by a nonprofit organization that:
12 (A) focuses on veterans;
13 (B) is exempt from federal income taxation under Section
14 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code; and
15 (C) does not charge a retail sale amount for the transfer of
16 a niche.
SB 520—LS 7493/DI 153 4
COMMITTEE REPORT
Mr. President: The Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs and The
Military, to which was referred Senate Bill No. 520, has had the same
under consideration and begs leave to report the same back to the
Senate with the recommendation that said bill DO PASS.
(Reference is to SB 520 as introduced.)
TOMES, Chairperson
Committee Vote: Yeas 8, Nays 0
SB 520—LS 7493/DI 153