2021 Georgia Code
Title 10 - Commerce and Trade
Chapter 14 - Cemetery and Funeral Services
§ 10-14-1. Short Title

This chapter shall be known as and may be cited as the "Georgia Cemetery and Funeral Services Act of 2000."

(Code 1981, §44-3-130, enacted by Ga. L. 1983, p. 1508, § 1; Code 1981, §10-14-1, as redesignated by Ga. L. 2000, p. 882, § 1.)

- Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 2000, "chapter" was substituted for "article".

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Insurance coverage for breach of perpetual care.

- When an insurer sought a declaratory judgment defining the insurer's rights and responsibilities under an insurance policy issued to an insured cemetery that was sued for desecrating a grave, the insurer was not obligated to indemnify the insured for any damages awarded on a breach of contract claim alleging a breach of a perpetual care contract regarding the grave because the insured had no duty to care for the grave absent the contract, and the policy excluded coverage for any personal injury for which the insured had assumed liability in a contract. Nationwide Mut. Fire Ins. Co. v. Somers, 264 Ga. App. 421, 591 S.E.2d 430 (2003).

- Trial court did not manifestly abuse the court's discretion by entering a permanent injunction preventing a cemetery group from implementing a rule established by a private cemetery owner to prohibit the use of concrete vaults in its cemeteries because the rule violated the Georgia Cemetery and Funeral Services Act of 2000, O.C.G.A. § 10-14-1 et seq., because it was not reasonable within the context of O.C.G.A. § 10-14-16(b). Savannah Cemetery Group, Inc. v. DePue-Wilbert Vault Co., 307 Ga. App. 206, 704 S.E.2d 858 (2010).

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Deposits and additional fees.

- The Georgia Cemetery and Funeral Services Act, O.C.G.A. § 10 14 1 et seq., requires a cemetery to make deposits to a perpetual care trust fund based on a percentage of the sales price of any burial right, cemetery lot, grave space, niche, mausoleum, columbarium, urn, or crypt sold by a cemetery and prohibits a cemetery from charging an additional fee or add-on to the customer. 2017 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U2017-4.

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 14 Am. Jur. 2d, Cemeteries, §§ 8, 9.

- 14 C.J.S., Cemeteries, § 1.