South Carolina § 40-8-130 - Mausoleum and below ground crypt construction deadlines; burial vault placement; coastal and lowland exception.

§ 40-8-130. Mausoleum and below ground crypt construction deadlines; burial vault placement; coastal and lowland exception.

(A)(1) A cemetery company is required to start construction of that section of a mausoleum or bank of belowground crypts in which sales, contracts for sale, reservations for sales, or agreements for sales are being made within thirty-six months after the date of the first sale or refund the money. The construction of the mausoleum section or bank of belowground crypts must be completed within sixty months after the date of the first sale. Extensions for completion, not to exceed one year, may be granted by the board for good reasons shown.

(2) After construction has begun on the mausoleum section or bank of belowground crypts, the cemetery company shall certify the progress and expenditures and is entitled to withdraw funds from the mausoleum account to meet construction expenditures.

(3) If the mausoleum section or bank of belowground crypts is not completed within the time limits set out in this section, the board shall contract for and cause the project to be completed and paid for from the funds deposited to the project and the cemetery company must be liable for any shortage.

(4) In lieu of the payments to the mausoleum account the cemetery company may deliver to the board a performance bond in an amount and by surety companies acceptable to the board.

(B)(1) Burial vaults must be at least ten inches below the earth's surface. As used in this section, "burial vaults" includes caskets, grave liners, or other outer burial containers. It does not include markers, monuments, or crypts constructed in a mausoleum or columbarium.

(2) This section does not apply to cemeteries located in the coastal and lowland areas which are subject to tidal or surface flooding or have a high-level water table, except that where the water table is two feet or less from the surface, cemeteries not subject to tidal or surface flooding may place vaults level with the ground.

HISTORY: 2002 Act No. 322, SECTION 10A.