(A) Fund created; disposition. Donations, deposits or bequests may be made in trust for the special care of specified lots, monuments or mausoleums in any cemetery. These funds shall be segregated and set aside as a permanent fund to be known as the Perpetual Care Fund. A separate account shall be kept of each amount so deposited, donated and bequeathed for special care of specified lots. The Perpetual Care Fund may be invested in like manner as the Cemetery Care Fund, and only the interest derived from the fund shall be used in the care, maintenance and repair of such lots, monuments and mausoleums, unless otherwise specified by the donor.
(B) Trustee of Fund; appointment, duties. The city or 25 of the lot owners in the cemetery, may petition the district court in the county where the cemetery is situated for the appointment of a trustee to be the trustee of the Perpetual Care Fund. The trustee of the Fund shall receive the perpetual care funds, as provided in division (A) of this section, and any other funds which may be donated, deposited or bequeathed to the cemetery, or any part thereof, as a Perpetual Care Fund. The trustee shall invest, manage and control the fund under the direction of the judge of the district court.
(C) Receipts; cemetery records. Every trustee of a Perpetual Care Fund shall execute and deliver to the donor a receipt showing the amount of money received, and the use to be made of the net proceeds from the money. The receipts shall be attested by the Clerk of the Court granting letters of trusteeship and a copy thereof shall be signed by the trustees of the Cemetery Board. The receipts so attested shall then be filed with and recorded by the Court Clerk in the book to be known as the “Cemetery Records”, in which shall be recorded all reports and other papers, including orders made by the court or the judge relative to cemetery matters.
(D) Loans, approval. The Perpetual Care Fund trustee may loan monies received by him or her under the direction and with the approval of the court, but only as such loans may be secured by first mortgages upon real estate in this state. No loan shall be made or approved unless it be made to appear to the court that the real estate is ample security for the loan applied for, and that the title to the real estate is good of record and in fact in the party making application for the loan.
(E) Bond and oath of trustee. The trustee of the Perpetual Care Fund, before entering on the discharge of his or her duties or at any time thereafter when required by the court or judge, shall give bond in such amount as may be required by the court, to be approved by the Court Clerk, conditioned for the faithful discharge of the duties imposed upon the trustee by law. The trustee shall take and subscribe an oath the same in substance as the condition of the bond. The oath and bond shall be filed with the Court Clerk.
(F) Sufficiency of trustee’s bond. The Court Clerk, at the time of filing each receipt as provided in division (C) of this section, shall immediately advise the court or judge as to the amount of the principal fund in the hands of the trustee, the amount of bond filed, and whether or not the bond is good and sufficient for the amount given. The court or judge may require, if it seems best, a new and additional bond of the Perpetual Care Fund trustee.
(G) Payment of trustee’s expenses. The trustee of a Perpetual Care Fund shall not be entitled to receive any compensation for services rendered, but may, out of the income received, pay all proper items of expense incurred in the performance of his or her duties, including cost of bond, if any.
(H) Trustee reports. Every Perpetual Care Fund trustee shall make a full report to the district court of his or her doings in the matter of his or her trusteeship in the months of January and July following his or her appointment, and in January and July of each successive year. In each of the reports, he or she shall apportion the net proceeds received from the sum total of the permanent fund and make proper credit to each of the separate funds assigned to him or her in trust.
(I) Removal or death of trustee. A Perpetual Care Fund trustee may be removed by the court or judge thereof at any time for cause. In the event of removal or death, the court or judge must appoint a new trustee and require his or her predecessor or his or her personal representative to make full accounting for all the property belonging to the trustee.
(Prior Code, § 7-6A-13)