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J enne&see Senate
PUBLIC CHAPTER NO. 119
SENATE BILL NO. 715
By Taylor
Substituted for: House Bill No. 713
By Alexander, Hale, Renea Jones
AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 46, relative to cemeteries.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 46-1-204(e)(1 )(A)(ii), is amended by
deleting the first sentence and substituting:
An amount not exceeding five percent (5%) of the fair market value of the trust,
averaged over the balance as of the last day of the trust fiscal year immediately preceding
the distribution year and the two (2) preceding years or, if less than two (2) years, the
average of the balance as of the last day of each trust fiscal year for the period of time the
trust has been in existence.
SECTION 2. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 46-1-204, is amended by deleting
subsection (c) and substituting:
(c) A cemetery company may charge a fee for the memorial care of every commodity
installed in the cemetery. The fee must not exceed seventy-five cents (75¢) per square inch
of the ground covered by the commodity. At the end of each calendar year, the cemetery
company may increase the fee charged pursuant to this subsection (c) for the memorial care
of commodities by no more than the percentage representing the consumer price index at
the end of that calendar year. The fee charged for memorial care of a commodity must not
exceed the fee charged by the cemetery company for installation of the commodity. A
cemetery company must not charge a different memorial care fee based on the source of the
commodity.
SECTION 3. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 46-2-101 (b)(2), is amended by deleting
the subdivision and substituting the following:
(2)(A) A cemetery company may prohibit the installation of a commodity by
noncemetery personnel; provided, that the fee charged by the cemetery company for
installation of the commodity by the cemetery company does not exceed seventy-five
cents (75¢) per square inch of the ground covered by the commodity. At the end of
each calendar year, the cemetery company may increase the fee charged pursuant to
this subdivision (b )(2)(A) for the installation of commodities by no more than the
percentage representing the consumer price index at the end of that calendar year. A
cemetery company must not charge a different installation fee based on the source of
the commodity. The cemetery company shall install all commodities furnished from
sources other than the cemetery within thirty (30) days of the receipt of the
commodity, weather permitting.
(8) If the fee charged by a cemetery company for installation of a commodity
exceeds the fee scale described in subdivision (b )(2)(A), then the cemetery company
shall permit installation of the commodity by noncemetery personnel, if requested by
the interment right owner, or the owner's representative, agent, heirs, or assigns.
SECTION 4. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 46-2-101 (b)(3), is amended by deleting
the first sentence. SB 715
SECTION 5. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 46-2-101 (c), is amended by deleting the
second sentence and substituting the following:
The cemetery owner may charge an administrative, processing, or documentation fee;
provided, however, that the fee is an equal amount charged to all persons. The fee must be
posted on the schedule of charges as required by subsection (d).
SECTION 6. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 46-1-204(b)(3), is amended by adding the
following as a new subdivision:
(C) Additional deposits to the improvement care trust fund are not required on the
sale of subsequent interment rights for the same cemetery land, lawn crypt, mausoleum,
crypt, niche, or any memorial other than a commodity, for which an improvement care
deposit has already been made.
SECTION 7. Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 46, is amended by adding the following as a
new chapter:
46-3-101. Chapter definitions.
As used in this chapter:
(1) "Cemetery" has the same meaning as defined in§ 46-1-102;
(2) "Cemetery company" has the same meaning as defined in§ 46-1-102;
(3) "Community columbarium" means a structure, room, or space in a building
or structure used, or intended to be used, for the interment of cremated human
remains by members of the general public;
(4) "Community mausoleum" means a structure, above ground, or partially
above and partially below ground, containing crypts and niches used or intended for
use by members of the general public;
(5) "Crypt" has the same meaning as defined in§ 46-1-102;
(6) "Grave space" has the same meaning as defined in§ 46-1-102;
(7) "Interment" has the same meaning as defined in§ 46-1-102;
(8) "Interment right" means the right to inter human remains in a particular
grave space, community mausoleum, or community columbarium in a cemetery; and
(9) "Niche" has the same meaning as defined in§ 46-1-102.
46-3-102. Abandonment of interment rights.
(a) An interment right is considered abandoned, and reverts to the cemetery company
that owns or controls the cemetery where the right was purchased, if the following occurs:
(1) Seventy-five (75) years passes without known contact with the recorded
owner of the interment right or, if the recorded owner is deceased, with an heir or
beneficiary of the recorded owner of the right;
(2) The cemetery company conducts a reasonable search for the recorded
owner of the interment right and, if the recorded owner of the interment right is
deceased, an heir or beneficiary of the owner; the reasonable search must include:
(A) Sending a certified letter of notice to the last known address of the
recorded owner of the interment right, or any known heir or beneficiary of the
owner; provided that, if an address is not available, this subdivision (a)(2)(A)
does not apply; and
(B) Publishing a description of the interment right specifying the exact
location of the right within the cemetery on the cemetery company's website, if
available, for a minimum of twelve (12) months; and
(3) An individual does not provide proof of ownership of the interment right
within one (1) year from the first date of the publication required by subdivision
(a)(2)(8).
2 SB 715
(b) A cemetery may not reclaim any interment right if a memorial has been installed
on the cemetery space.
(c) An individual who provides proof of ownership of an interment right that is deemed
abandoned pursuant to this section that has been used or sold by the cemetery company is
entitled to receive an interment right from the cemetery company's available inventory of
equal value to the resale price of the abandoned interment right that reverted to the cemetery
company or the original purchase price, whichever is greater, for up to twenty-five (25) years
after the right was reclaimed by the cemetery company.
(d) A cemetery that reclaims an interment right under this section must keep a record
of such reclamation and provide the record to the commissioner of commerce and insurance
upon request.
( e) A cause of action does not arise from reclamation of an abandoned interment right
if the interment right was reclaimed in accordance with this section.
SECTION 8. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 46-1-105(a), is amended by deleting the
first sentence and substituting:
There is established within the state general fund a cemetery state administrative
fund referred to as the "cemetery state administrative account".
SECTION 9. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 46-1-105, is amended by deleting
subsection (c) and substituting:
(c) A renewal of a certificate of registration must not be issued unless the applicant
pays, in addition to the renewal fee, a state administrative fee of twenty dollars ($20.00) for
every pre-need sales contract entered into during the preceding renewal period, except that
the applicant is not required to pay the state administrative fee on any pre-need sales
contract entered into that was subsequently cancelled prior to the applicant's request for
renewal of a certificate of registration. If the pre-need contract covers both cemetery
merchandise and funeral merchandise as defined in§ 62-5-403, then the cemetery company
is only required to pay one (1) administrative fee for the contract, which must be credited to
the cemetery state administrative account. A cemetery company shall not charge a
consumer more than one (1) state. administrative fee for the execution of one (1) or more
cemetery contracts entered into by the consumer at any one (1) time.
SECTION 10. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 46-1-204(b)(3)(A), is amended by
deleting subdivisions (i)-(iii) and substituting:
• (i) For interment rights in land, but not including interment rights in a lawn crypt or
interment rights in land donated without charge for the purpose of interring the remains of a
deceased person who was under eighteen (18) years of age at the time of death, one dollar
($1.00) per square foot of the land set aside for said interment rights or twenty percent (20%)
of the total transaction amount for the land set aside for said interment rights, whichever is
greater; •
(ii) For interment rights in a lawn crypt, twenty percent (20%) of the total transaction
amount for the land set aside for the interment rights,. excluding the lawn crypt or fifty dollars
($50.00), whichever is greater;
(iii) For interment rights in a mausoleum, crypt, niche, or any memorial other than a
commodity, not less than ten percent (10%) of the total transaction amount for each item;
SECTION 11. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 46-1-108(a), is amended by deleting "the
lots" and substituting "interment rights".
SECTION 12. Tennessee Code Annotated, •Section 46-2-101 (b)(1 ), is .amended by deleting
"a lotowner" and substituting "the interment right owner".
SECTION 13. This act takes effect January 1, 2026, the public welfare requiring it.
3 PASSED:
SENATE BILL NO. 715
March 20, 2025
n
RAN,v McNALL y
SPEAKER OF 1\/E SENA TE
C?~
CAMERONSEXTON,SPEAKER
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APPROVED this ~ day of /Jrer( f 2025
BILL LEE, GOVERNOR