750-q. Maintenance fees for pet cemeteries. 1. A pet cemetery owner may charge a permanent maintenance endowment fee for the care of the pet cemetery, which if charged, shall be placed by the pet cemetery owner into a permanent maintenance endowment care or similar trust fund.
2. In lieu of a permanent maintenance endowment fee, the operator of a pet cemetery and a pet owner may enter into a contract for care of the pet cemetery on an annual basis. The pet owner then shall be charged an annual maintenance fee which shall be paid in the manner described below. However, only one contract for annual maintenance shall be entered into per gravesite and shall state specifically the amount of the annual maintenance fee to be paid each year. The contract shall also state that failure to pay these annual fees can result in the disinterment of the pet.
(a) The annual maintenance fee, billed each calendar year shall be placed by the pet cemetery owner in the general account of the pet cemetery to be used for pet cemetery operation and maintenance during the succeeding years. For the purposes of this section and section seven hundred fifty-r of this article, the term pet cemetery operation and maintenance shall mean all costs incurred to operate and maintain a pet cemetery including salaries and bonuses for employees, officers and directors, but shall not include any fines or penalties imposed by the secretary of state or other agency or court.
(b) If the annual maintenance fee is not paid within ninety days of the date of which it is due, the pet cemetery owner shall notify the pet owner in writing that such fee is due and payable. If such annual maintenance fee is not paid within ninety days of such writing, the disposal rights or rights to continuing care of a pet grave of the pet owner shall terminate.
(c) If the annual maintenance fee is not paid within one hundred eighty days of the date of which it is due, the disposal rights of a pet owner shall then terminate and the pet cemetery owner may at anytime thereafter remove such pet and if removed dispose of remains by mass cremation or mass burial.
(d) Nothing in this section shall prevent a pet owner from prepaying annual maintenance fees for any number of years in advance.
Last modified: February 3, 2019