2021 Wisconsin Statutes & Annotations
Chapter 157 - Disposition of human remains.
157.067 - Connection with funeral establishment prohibited.

157.067 Connection with funeral establishment prohibited.

(1) In this section, “funeral establishment" has the meaning given in s. 445.01 (6), except that “funeral establishment" does not include a building or part of a building that is erected under s. 157.11 (1) for holding or conducting funeral services if dead human bodies are not embalmed, cared for, or prepared for burial or transportation, in the building.

(2) No cemetery authority may permit a funeral establishment to be located in the cemetery. No cemetery authority may have or permit an employee or agent of the cemetery to have any ownership, operation or other financial interest in a funeral establishment. Except as provided in sub. (2m), no cemetery authority or employee or agent of a cemetery may, directly or indirectly, receive or accept any commission, fee, remuneration or benefit of any kind from a funeral establishment or from an owner, employee or agent of a funeral establishment.

(2m) A cemetery authority may accept a fee or remuneration from a funeral establishment or from an owner, employee or agent of a funeral establishment if all of the following requirements are satisfied:

(a) The fee or remuneration is a payment to the cemetery authority for a burial in the cemetery authority's cemetery.

(b) The fee or remuneration payment is made on behalf of the person who is responsible for paying for the funeral establishment's services.

(c) The funeral establishment will be reimbursed for the fee or remuneration by charging the person who is responsible for paying the funeral expenses an amount that is identical to the amount of the fee or remuneration paid by the funeral establishment to the cemetery authority.

History: 1993 a. 100, 386; 2005 a. 266.

If subsidiary corporations have prohibited financial connections, their corporate structure will not save them from the prohibitions of ss. 157.067 (2) and 445.12 (6). Those statutes are not unconstitutionally vague. Cemetery Services, Inc. v. Department of Regulation and Licensing, 221 Wis. 2d 817, 586 N.W.2d 191 (Ct. App. 1998), 97-2115.

Sub. (2) and s. 445.12 (6), which prohibit the joint ownership or operation of a cemetery and a funeral home, do not violate the equal protection or due process clauses of the Wisconsin and U.S. constitutions. Porter v. State, 2018 WI 79, 382 Wis. 2d 697, 913 N.W.2d 842, 16-1599.