Oregon Revised Statutes
As used in ORS 97.010 to 97.040, 97.012, 97.110 to 97.450, 97.510 to 97.730, 97.810 to 97.920, 97.923 to 97.949, 97.990 and 97.994: “Alkaline hydrolysis” or “hydrolysis” means the technical process for reducing human remains by placing the remains in a dissolution chamber that uses heat, pressure, water and base chemical agents, in a licensed hydrolysis fac…
Services and merchandise offered under a transportation protection agreement shall not be considered funeral merchandise, funeral services, prearrangement sales or a prearrangement sales contract. Note: 97.012 was enacted into law by the Legislative Assembly but was not added to or made a part of ORS chapter 97 or any series therein by legislative action. S…
The provisions of ORS 97.030, 97.120, 97.310 to 97.350, 97.360 (1), 97.510 and 97.550 relating to private cemeteries do not apply to: Any religious or eleemosynary corporation, church, religious society or denomination, corporation sole administering temporalities of any church or religious society or denomination or any cemetery that such entity organizes,…
No cemetery authority or person having a right of sepulture or any other right under ORS 97.010 to 97.040, 97.110 to 97.450, 97.510 to 97.730, 97.810 to 97.920 and 97.990 acquires any vested right by virtue thereof which the Legislative Assembly may not subsequently amend, alter or repeal.
Except for ORS 97.730, 97.010 to 97.040, 97.110 to 97.450, 97.510 to 97.730, 97.810 to 97.920 and 97.990 do not apply to private family burial grounds where lots are not offered for sale.
AUTOPSIES
Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, whenever a person dies and no autopsy is ordered by a medical examiner or district attorney pursuant to ORS 146.117, an autopsy may not be conducted without the prior written consent of a person within the first applicable class of the following listed classes: The spouse of the decedent; A son or daugh…
DISPOSITION OF HUMAN BODIES (Generally)
No person shall attach, detain or claim to detain any human remains for any debt or demand or upon any pretended lien or charge.
A cemetery authority shall deposit or dispose of human remains as provided by ORS 97.010 to 97.040, 97.110 to 97.450, 97.510 to 97.730, 97.810 to 97.920 and 97.990.
Any individual of sound mind who is 18 years of age or older, by completion of a written signed instrument or by preparing or prearranging with any funeral service practitioner licensed under ORS chapter 692, may direct any lawful manner of disposition of the individual’s remains. Except as provided under subsection (7) of this section, disposition direction…
No cemetery authority, crematory operator, alternative disposition facility operator or licensed funeral service practitioner interring, cremating or reducing remains pursuant to a written instrument signed by the decedent or a person described in ORS 97.130 (2) shall be liable for any failure to conform to the priority of control of remains provided in ORS …
If the cemetery authority, crematory operator, alternative disposition facility operator or licensed funeral service practitioner has been authorized to cremate or reduce remains of a decedent pursuant to ORS 97.130, the authorization must also contain further instructions to the cemetery authority, crematory operator, alternative disposition facility operat…
Notwithstanding section 14, chapter 653, Oregon Laws 1991, or ORS 469.525, diagnostic or therapeutic radioisotopes remaining inside the uncremated or unreduced body of a deceased person may be buried, entombed or otherwise disposed of in a cemetery or other lawful place for the burial, entombment or other disposal of the uncremated or unreduced body of the d…
No hospital or sanitarium, or the employees, agents or representatives thereof, shall send or cause to be sent to any funeral service practitioner, undertaker, mortician or embalmer the remains of any decedent without having complied with this section before final disposition of the remains. If the admitting record contains the name of a relative, friend or…
As used in this section, “indigent person” means a deceased person who does not have a death or final expense benefit or insurance policy that pays for disposition of the deceased person’s body or other means to pay for disposition of the deceased person’s body and: Who does not have a relative or other person with the legal right to direct and the means to…
An institution that receives a body pursuant to ORS 97.170 and that intends to use the body for ongoing research may properly preserve the body upon receipt for anatomical purposes, but may not use or dismember the body for at least 30 days after receipt. If a relative or friend of the deceased person claims the body within the 30 days specified in this sect…
Unless required by a medical examiner to determine the cause of death or specifically authorized and ordered by the superintendent of the hospital or institution in which any person coming under the provisions of ORS 97.170 may die, no such body as is mentioned in ORS 97.170 is subject to post-mortem examination, except by consent of the State Mortuary and C…
An institution that uses a body for ongoing research pursuant to ORS 97.170 shall bury respectfully or cremate or reduce the remains upon completion of use. If the institution cremates or reduces the remains, the institution shall deliver the cremated or reduced remains to a relative of the deceased person if a relative is known to the institution. If no rel…
Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, a person may not knowingly accept payment or other consideration, directly or indirectly, for displaying human remains to the public. Subsection (1) of this section does not apply if: The display has the written consent of the decedent or a person with the right to control the disposition of the deceden…
The estate of a decedent whose remains are displayed in violation of ORS 97.205 may bring a civil action for injunctive relief, damages or other appropriate relief against any person whose conduct in connection with the display is unlawful under ORS 97.205. Upon prevailing in an action brought under this section, the plaintiff may recover: Both special and…
The body of any person who died of smallpox, diphtheria, scarlet fever or other disease that the Oregon Health Authority, by rule, may prescribe, shall not be subject to the provisions of ORS 97.170 to 97.200.
Except as provided in ORS 97.223, the remains of a deceased person interred in a plot in a cemetery may be removed from the plot with the consent of the cemetery authority and written consent of: The person under ORS 97.130 (2)(a), (b) or (c) who has the authority to direct disposition of the remains of the deceased person; or If the remains are cremated o…
In the event of a natural disaster or similar emergency that causes interred human remains to be completely or partially dislodged from their original designated plot, the cemetery authority of the cemetery where the plot is located may, as the cemetery authority deems fit: Inter the human remains in the original designated plot; Temporarily store the huma…
(Unclaimed Cremated Remains of Veteran or Veteran’s Spouse, Dependent or Survivor)
As used in ORS 97.231 to 97.246: “County veterans’ service officer” means a county veterans’ service officer appointed under ORS 408.410. “Eligible decedent” means the unclaimed cremated remains of a veteran or spouse, dependent or survivor of a veteran that are entitled to interment under federal law at a national cemetery administered by the United State…
The governing body of each county shall designate one or more veterans’ remains coordinators who shall exercise due diligence to: Identify unclaimed cremated remains located in the county in consultation with the county veterans’ service officer, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, a national cemetery administered by the United States Departme…
Before causing the interment of an eligible decedent under ORS 97.234, the veterans’ remains coordinator shall report to the county veterans’ service officer: The facts relied upon to establish eligibility for interment under ORS 97.234; The plan for the interment of the eligible decedent; and The date of death and place of interment of the eligible deced…
A funeral establishment in possession of an eligible decedent shall, upon request of a veterans’ remains coordinator, release the veteran status information associated with the eligible decedent to the veterans’ remains coordinator. A veterans’ remains coordinator may use the veteran status information received under subsection (1) of this section only for …
A veterans’ remains coordinator who identifies or locates an eligible decedent shall report to the United States Department of Veterans Affairs: Veteran status information known about the veteran associated with the eligible decedent; and Contact information for the place and person in possession of the eligible decedent. The veterans’ remains coordinator…
A veterans’ remains coordinator or county veterans’ service officer shall carry out the duties under ORS 97.231 to 97.246 in accordance with rules adopted by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs. The Department of Veterans’ Affairs may adopt rules to implement the provisions of ORS 97.231 to 97.246.
DEDICATION TO CEMETERY PURPOSES; PLATTINGS
Every cemetery authority, from time to time as its property may require for cemetery purposes, shall: In case of land, survey and subdivide it into sections, blocks, plots, avenues, walks or other subdivisions and make a good and substantial map or plat showing them, with descriptive names or numbers. In all instances this shall be done in compliance with O…
In case of a cemetery lot, the cemetery authority shall file the map or plat in the office of the recording officer of the county in which all or a portion of the property is situated, and it forthwith shall file for record in that officer’s office a written declaration dedicating the property delineated on the plat or map exclusively to cemetery purposes.
Upon the filing of the map or plat and of the declaration for record, the dedication is complete for all purposes, and thereafter the property shall be held, occupied and used exclusively for cemetery purposes.
After property is dedicated to cemetery purposes pursuant to ORS 97.310 to 97.330 and 97.360 (1), neither the dedication nor the title of a plot owner shall be affected by the dissolution of the cemetery authority by nonuser on its part, by alienation of the property, by any encumbrances, by sale under execution or otherwise, except as provided in ORS 97.310…
Dedication to cemetery purposes pursuant to ORS 97.010 to 97.040, 97.110 to 97.450, 97.510 to 97.730, 97.810 to 97.920 and 97.990 is not invalid as violating any laws against perpetuities or the suspension of the power of alienation of title to or use of property, and is deemed to be in respect for the dead, and is a provision for the interment of human rema…
Any part or subdivision of the property so mapped and platted may, by order of the directors and consent of the lot owners, be resurveyed and altered in shape and size and an amended map or plat filed, so long as such change does not disturb any interred remains. Whenever a majority of the lots as platted or laid out in any cemetery established before March…
When any application mentioned in ORS 97.360 (2) is filed, the court or board shall fix the time for the hearing of it and notice of the time thereof shall be given by publication in a paper of general circulation published in the town in which the cemetery is situated or in the town to which it is nearest once a week for a period of six successive weeks pri…
At the hearing mentioned in ORS 97.370 the court or board shall consider and hear any evidence introduced in favor of the proposed change and all objections thereto and, after a full hearing thereon, may allow the proposed change and replat in whole or in part. If the proposed change is allowed, either in whole or in part, an order allowing it shall be made …
If any damages are claimed by the owner of any lot in any such cemetery as is mentioned in ORS 97.360 (2), which lot is adjacent to the avenues, streets, alleys, driveways or parks vacated as provided in ORS 97.380, they shall be ascertained by the county court or board of county commissioners and offset against the benefits accruing to the lot owner on acco…
Any owner or association accepting the trust of handling and disposing of lots newly created pursuant to ORS 97.380 shall by the acceptance thereof agree to dispose of the lots only for burial purposes and at a price not less than that fixed by the county court or board of county commissioners. The net funds derived from the sale of the lots remaining after …
The vacation of an avenue, street, alley, driveway, walk or park adjacent to a cemetery lot shall vest in the owner of such lot no interest in the vacated portion thereof; but the adjacent owner shall, for 30 days after the date of such an order of vacation, have the right to purchase any new lot adjacent to the lot of the owner at the price fixed by the cou…
Any owner of such cemetery as is mentioned in ORS 97.360 (2), or of any lot therein, or any relative or heir of any deceased person buried in such cemetery who fails to appear and file written objection to any proposed replat, alteration or vacation, authorized by ORS 97.360 (2), shall be deemed to have consented to the proposed change and shall be forever b…
The enactment of ORS 97.360 (2) and 97.370 to 97.430 is hereby declared to be a necessary exercise of the police powers of the state in order to preserve and keep existing cemeteries as resting places for the dead and to preserve old and historic cemeteries from becoming unkempt and places of reproach and desolation in the communities in which they are locat…
Property dedicated to cemetery purposes shall be held and used exclusively for cemetery purposes until the dedication is removed from all or any part of it by an order and decree of the county court or board of county commissioners of the county in which the property is situated in a proceeding brought by the cemetery authority for that purpose and upon noti…
Consistent with the provisions of ORS 368.326 to 368.366, a county may vacate any real property interests the county may own in a cemetery. Consistent with ORS 368.366 (2), the county may vacate its real property interests in favor of a private nonprofit organization provided the organization states its intent to provide for the continuing maintenance and ca…
Whenever any cemetery that is within the limits of any county, city or town has been abandoned, or it is desirable to abandon such cemetery, the governing body of any county, if the cemetery is owned by the county, or the corporate authorities of the city or town, if the cemetery is owned by the city or town, or the trustees or directors, if the cemetery is …
A person may not lay out, open up or use any property for cemetery or burial park purposes unless the person: Is the owner of the property; Has the written consent of the planning commission of the county or city having jurisdiction under ORS 92.042 or, if there is no such commission in such county or city, the governing body of such county or city; Agree…
After filing the map or plat and recording the declaration of dedication, a cemetery authority may sell and convey plots subject to such rules and regulations as may be then in effect and subject to such other and further limitations, conditions and restrictions made a part of the declaration of dedication by reference or included in the instrument of convey…
A person, firm or corporation may not sell or offer to sell a cemetery plot upon the promise, representation or inducement of resale at a financial profit, except with the consent and approval of the Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services. Each violation of this section constitutes a separate offense.
No cemetery authority shall pay or offer to pay, and no person, firm or corporation shall receive, directly or indirectly, a commission, bonus, rebate or other thing of value for the sale of a plot or services. This does not apply to a person regularly employed by the cemetery authority for such purpose. Each violation of this section constitutes a separate …
No person shall pay, cause to be paid or offer to pay, and no person, firm or corporation shall receive, directly or indirectly, except as provided in ORS 97.530, any commission, bonus, rebate or other thing of value in consideration of recommending or causing a dead human body to be disposed of in any cemetery. Each violation of this section constitutes a s…
All plots, the use of which has been conveyed by deed or certificate of ownership as a separate plot, are indivisible except with the consent of the cemetery authority, or as provided by law.
All plots conveyed to individuals are presumed to be solely and separately owned by the person named in the instrument of conveyance.
The spouse of an owner of any plot containing more than one interment space has a vested right of interment of the remains of the spouse in the plot, and any person thereafter becoming the spouse of the owner has a vested right of interment of the remains of the person in the plot if more than one interment space is unoccupied at the time the person becomes …
No conveyance or other action of the owner without the written consent or joinder of the spouse of the owner divests the spouse of the vested right of interment, except that a judgment of divorce between them terminates the right unless otherwise provided in the judgment.
No transfer of any plot, heretofore or hereafter made, or any right of interment is complete or effective until recorded on the books of the cemetery authority.
Upon the death of the owner, unless the owner has disposed of the plot either by specific direction in the will of the owner or by a written declaration filed and recorded in the office of the cemetery authority, if no interment has been made in an interment plot which has been transferred by deed or certificate of ownership to an individual owner or if all …
When there are two or more owners of a burial plot or of rights of interment therein, such owners may designate one or more persons to designate the burials to be made in the plot and file written notice of such designation with the cemetery association. In the absence of such notice or of written objection to its so doing, the cemetery association is not li…
An affidavit by any person having knowledge of the fact, setting forth the fact of the death of one owner and establishing the identity of the surviving owners named in the deed to any plot, when filed with the cemetery authority operating the cemetery in which the plot is located, is authorization to the cemetery authority to permit the use of the unoccupie…
Whenever an interment of the remains of a member or of a relative of a member of the family of the record owner, or of the remains of the record owner, is made in a plot transferred by deed or certificate of ownership to an individual owner, and the owner dies without making disposition of the plot, either by direction in the owner’s will, or by a written de…
A vested right of interment may be waived and is terminated upon the interment elsewhere of the remains of the person in whom it is vested.
No vested right of interment gives to any person the right to have the remains of the person interred in any interment space in which the remains of any deceased person having equal or prior vested right of interment have been interred; nor does it give any person the right to have the remains of more than one deceased person interred in a single interment s…
A nonprofit corporation organized and existing solely for the purposes of either owning and operating a cemetery or cremating or reducing the bodies of deceased persons and burying and caring for cremated or reduced remains, may purchase or take, by gift or devise, and own and hold lands for the sole purpose of either a cemetery, a crematory or an alternativ…
A nonprofit corporation organized or existing solely for the purposes of either owning and operating a cemetery or cremating or reducing the bodies of deceased persons and burying and caring for cremated or reduced remains may, by its bylaws, provide that a stated percentage of the money received from the sale of lots and burial space, cremation or reduction…
If in the board of directors’ opinion, any portion of the lands of a nonprofit corporation organized and existing solely for the purposes of either owning or operating a cemetery or the cremation or reduction of bodies of deceased persons and the burial and care of cremated or reduced remains is unsuitable for burial purposes or other purposes of the corpora…
Burial lots or space for burial of cremated or reduced remains in buildings or grounds sold by a nonprofit corporation organized and existing solely for the purposes of either owning and operating a cemetery or cremating or reducing the bodies of deceased persons and burying and caring for cremated or reduced remains shall be for the sole purpose of intermen…
As used in this section, “plan” means a document indicating the placement of lots or burial spaces, and of the niches or inurnment spaces in the buildings erected thereon, as established and authorized by the cemetery authority. A nonprofit corporation organized and existing solely for the purposes of owning and operating a cemetery or cremating or reducing…
The cemetery authority may make and enforce rules and regulations for: The use, care, control, management, restriction and protection of its cemetery; Restricting and limiting the use of all property within its cemetery; Regulating the uniformity, class and kind of all markers, monuments and other structures within its cemetery; Prohibiting the erection …
The person in charge of any premises on which interments, cremations or reductions are made shall keep a record of all remains interred or cremated or reduced on the premises under the person’s charge, in each case stating the name of each deceased person, the date of interment, cremation or reduction, and the name and address of the funeral service practiti…
As used in this section, “unclaimed burial space” means a burial space in a cemetery: That has not been used for purposes of interment for at least 75 years by the record owner of the burial space or by a party claiming through the record owner of the burial space; and For which the cemetery authority has no record of any verbal or written contact for a pe…
Gifts, grants and bequests of personal property in trust for the purpose of providing perpetual care and maintenance, improvement or embellishment of private burial lots in or outside of cemeteries and of the walks, fences, monuments, structures or tombs thereon, are permitted and shall be deemed to be for perpetual and benevolent uses. They are not invalid …
For the purposes of ORS 97.740 to 97.760: “Burial” has the meaning given that term in ORS 358.905. “Funerary object” has the meaning given that term in ORS 358.905. “Human remains” has the meaning given that term in ORS 358.905. “Indian tribe” means any tribe of Indians recognized by the Secretary of the Interior or listed in the Klamath Termination Act,…
Except as provided in ORS 97.750, no person shall willfully remove, mutilate, deface, injure or destroy any cairn, burial, human remains, funerary object, sacred object or object of cultural patrimony of any native Indian. Persons disturbing native Indian cairns or burials through inadvertence, including by construction, mining, logging or agricultural activ…
Any proposed excavation by a professional archaeologist of a native Indian cairn or burial shall be initiated only after prior written notification to the State Historic Preservation Officer and the state police, as defined in ORS 358.905, and with the prior written consent of the appropriate Indian tribe in the vicinity of the intended action. Failure of a …
Apart from any criminal prosecution, an Indian tribe or enrolled member thereof shall have a civil action to secure an injunction, damages or other appropriate relief against any person who is alleged to have violated ORS 97.745. The action must be brought within two years of the discovery of the violation by the plaintiff. The action may be filed in the cir…
OREGON COMMISSION ON HISTORIC CEMETERIES
For purposes of ORS 97.772 to 97.784, “historic cemetery” means any burial place that contains the remains of one or more persons who died before the date that is 75 years before the current date. Note: 97.772 to 97.784 were enacted into law by the Legislative Assembly but were not added to or made a part of ORS chapter 97 or any series therein by legislati…
There is established within the State Parks and Recreation Department the Oregon Commission on Historic Cemeteries consisting of seven members appointed by the State Parks and Recreation Director. The term of office of each member is four years, but a member serves at the pleasure of the director. Before the expiration of the term of a member, the director …
The members of the Oregon Commission on Historic Cemeteries must be citizens of this state who are well informed on the restoration and maintenance of historic cemeteries. The State Parks and Recreation Director shall select members from nominations made by organizations of local historic cemeteries, organizations of nonprofit cemeteries, the State Mortuary …
The Oregon Commission on Historic Cemeteries shall select one of its members as chairperson and another as vice chairperson for such terms and with duties and powers necessary for the performance of the functions of such offices as the commission determines. A majority of the members of the commission constitutes a quorum for the transaction of business. T…
The Oregon Commission on Historic Cemeteries shall: Maintain a listing of all historic cemeteries in this state. Assist in coordination of restoration, renovation and maintenance of Oregon’s historic cemeteries. Make recommendations to the State Parks and Recreation Director for projects and funding to help maintain and improve Oregon’s historic cemeterie…
A historic cemetery that is not an operating cemetery, as defined in ORS 692.010, shall be listed with the Oregon Commission on Historic Cemeteries. An owner or any other person or association of individuals that maintains such a historic cemetery shall list the historic cemetery with the Oregon Commission on Historic Cemeteries on a form provided by the com…
The State Parks and Recreation Department shall provide support services to the Oregon Commission on Historic Cemeteries. One staff person of the department shall be the executive secretary of the commission. Note: See note under 97.772. CEMETERY CARE
As used in ORS 97.810 to 97.920: “Endowment care cemetery” means a cemetery that maintains an endowment care fund placed in an irrevocable trust fund. “Grave liner” means a burial receptacle designed to be installed in a grave, as defined in ORS 97.010, to assist in preventing the ground from collapsing. An endowment care cemetery shall deposit with the t…
The Department of Consumer and Business Services, in collaboration with the State Mortuary and Cemetery Board, shall adopt rules relating to: Minimum standards of care for the maintenance and operation of endowment care cemeteries; and The ability of the public to access the premises of endowment care cemeteries. Note: 97.813 was added to and made a part …
Every cemetery authority that operates a cemetery may place its cemetery under endowed care and establish, maintain and operate an endowment care fund. All endowed care funds shall be deposited with and held solely by the trustee or custodian appointed by the cemetery authority. Endowment care and special care funds may be commingled for investment and the …
A person may not, in connection with operating an endowment care cemetery: Employ any device, scheme or artifice to defraud; Knowingly make any untrue statement of a material fact or omit stating a material fact necessary in order to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which the statements are made, not misleading; Engage in an a…
If the cemetery authority fails to remit to the trustee or trustees, in accordance with the law, the funds herein provided for endowment and special care, or fails to expend the net income from the funds and generally care for and maintain any portion of a cemetery entitled to endowment care, any of the following may bring an action for a mandatory injunctio…
The principal of all funds for endowed care shall be invested, from time to time reinvested and kept invested. If a trust agreement imposes upon the trustee or custodian the duty to direct the investment or reinvestment of endowed care funds, the trustee or custodian shall perform this duty governed by ORS 130.750 to 130.775. Otherwise, the cemetery authorit…
The trustee shall have no duty whatsoever to operate, maintain or to supervise the general maintenance of any endowment fund cemetery, and the trustee shall have no duty whatsoever to enforce collection of any of the trust funds either from the purchasers of lots, or from the cemetery authority, and the trustee shall have no duty whatsoever to see to the app…
A cemetery authority which has established an endowment care fund may take, receive and hold any property, real, personal or mixed, bequeathed, devised, granted, given or otherwise contributed to it for its endowment care fund. Within 30 days of the receipt of such contributions, the cemetery authority shall deposit, with the trustee or custodian of the fund…
The endowment and special care funds and all payments or contributions to them are expressly permitted as and for charitable and eleemosynary purposes. Endowment care is a provision for the discharge of a duty from the persons contributing to the persons interred and to be interred in the cemetery and a provision for the benefit and protection of the public …
Upon payment of the purchase price, including the amount fixed as a proportionate contribution for endowed care, there may be included in the deed of conveyance, or by separate instrument, an agreement to care, in accordance with the plan adopted, for the cemetery and its appurtenances to the proportionate extent the income received by the cemetery authority…
The Department of Consumer and Business Services may, if a cemetery authority responsible for an endowment care cemetery violates a provision of ORS 97.810 to 97.920 with respect to the endowment care cemetery: Issue an emergency order to suspend or restrict the operations of an endowment care cemetery; or Take other action deemed necessary by the Director…
The following may petition the circuit courts of this state for an appointment of receiver for an endowment care cemetery: The Department of Consumer and Business Services; The district attorney of the county where the endowment care cemetery is located; or A local government with jurisdiction over the county or municipality where the endowment care cemet…
A cemetery authority that operates a cemetery for any religious or eleemosynary corporation, church, religious society or denomination, corporation sole administering temporalities of any church or religious society or denomination and any county or city may make an irrevocable election to have ORS 97.810 to 97.865 apply to any cemetery controlled or operate…
In all cases where a cemetery authority has owned a site for a cemetery for more than 40 years and has during that period sold lots, subdivisions of lots, pieces or parcels of the cemetery for burial purposes and the grantee or party claiming through the grantee has not used portions of such lots, subdivisions of lots, pieces or parcels of the cemetery for p…
The governing board of a cemetery authority described in ORS 97.870 may adopt a resolution declaring such unused and unimproved portion of its cemetery as is described in ORS 97.870 a common nuisance and an abandoned and unused portion of such cemetery, and may direct its officers to file the complaint described in ORS 97.890.
Upon the adoption of the resolution described in ORS 97.880 the officers of the cemetery authority may file a complaint in the circuit court for the county in which the cemetery is located against the owners, holders or parties interested in such abandoned portion of its cemetery demanding that the court require such owners, holders or interested parties to …
Summons shall be served upon all owners or holders who are residents of this state in like manner as in service of summons in a civil action if such owners and holders are known to the sheriff in the county in which the cemetery is located. If the defendants are not known to the sheriff, it is sufficient to serve the owners and holders whose names appear on …
In all cases arising under ORS 97.870 to 97.900, the fact that the owner, holder or interested party, of the unused and unimproved portion of the cemetery has not, for a term of 20 years or more, used the plot and has failed to keep it clear of weeds or brush is prima facie evidence that the owner, holder or interested party has abandoned it.
Upon the failure of the owner of the premises to comply with the order of the court requiring proper care of the premises or upon the failure of any of the defendants to appear and answer the complaint or upon the trial of the cause, if the court finds that the allegations of the complaint are supported by the evidence and that the summons has been served as…
As used in ORS 97.012, 97.923 to 97.949 and 97.994, unless the context requires otherwise: “Beneficiary” means the person who is to receive the funeral and cemetery merchandise, funeral and cemetery services or completed interment spaces. “Certified provider” means an entity certified under ORS 97.933 to: Sell or offer for sale prearrangement sales contra…
It is the purpose of ORS 97.923 to 97.949, 97.992, 97.994 and 692.180 to ensure funds for performance to purchasers who contract through prearrangement sales contracts for the purchase of funeral or cemetery merchandise or services, and through preconstruction sales contracts for undeveloped interment spaces. It is also the purpose of ORS 97.923 to 97.949, 9…
The Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services may adopt rules that are necessary or appropriate to: Protect purchasers of prearrangement sales contracts and preconstruction sales contracts and the public; and Administer ORS 97.923 to 97.949. Note: See note under 97.923.
ORS 97.923 to 97.949, 97.992, 97.994 and 692.180 do not apply to a nonprofit memorial society charging less than a $100 membership fee. Notwithstanding subsection (1) of this section, ORS 97.937 applies to a nonprofit memorial society charging less than a $100 membership fee. Note: See note under 97.923.
A person may not, in connection with performing certified provider activities, providing services as a master trustee or providing related services: Employ any device, scheme or artifice to defraud; Knowingly make any untrue statement of a material fact or omit stating a material fact necessary in order to make the statements made, in the light of the circ…
The provisions of ORS 97.923 to 97.949, 97.992, 97.994 and 692.180 do not apply to: Agreements to sell or sales of graves, crypts or niches where such graves, crypts or niches are in existence at the time of the sale or agreement to sell and are located in an endowment care cemetery as defined in ORS 97.810. Agreements to sell or sales of crypts or niches …
A salesperson may not engage in prearrangement sales made by endowment care cemeteries under ORS 97.929 or in preconstruction sales or prearrangement sales unless the salesperson is registered with the State Mortuary and Cemetery Board or holds a current funeral service practitioner license, embalmer license, funeral service practitioner trainee registration…
An entity may not engage in prearrangement sales or preconstruction sales, administer prearrangement sales or preconstruction sales or provide merchandise or services to fulfill prearrangement sales or preconstruction sales unless the entity is certified by the Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services. Each location at which an entity eng…
An entity may not operate as a master trustee unless the entity is registered with the Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services. The director shall: Establish procedures for registering master trustees under this section. Establish standards for master trustees. Set registration and renewal fees. Establish standards for rules of condu…
In addition to other actions authorized under ORS 97.948 (2), the Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services may: Issue an emergency order suspending or restricting a certificate or registration or ordering a certified provider or master trustee or an entity acting as a certified provider or master trustee to cease and desist from specifie…
This section applies to trust deposits required to be made by endowment care cemeteries under ORS 97.929. As used in this section, “common trust account” means trust funds received by a provider from two or more purchasers. All such trust funds shall be deposited by the provider with a financial institution in the State of Oregon carrying deposit insurance…
Three copies of a written sales contract shall be executed for each prearrangement sales contract or preconstruction sales contract sold by a certified provider. The certified provider shall retain one copy of the contract and a copy of the completed contract shall be given to: The purchaser; and The depository or the master trustee, if applicable. Upon r…
Upon receiving anything of value under a prearrangement sales contract or preconstruction sales contract, the certified provider who sold the contract shall deposit the following amounts into one or more trust funds maintained pursuant to ORS 97.923 to 97.949, 97.992, 97.994 and 692.180: If the amount received is in payment of a guaranteed prearrangement sa…
The Attorney General, on behalf of the Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services, may petition the circuit courts of this state for appointment of a receiver for a certified provider or entity acting as a certified provider without certification. If the court determines that a receivership is necessary or advisable, the court shall appoin…
A master trustee or a depository may not make any distributions from prearrangement sales contract trust fund deposits except as provided in this section. The principal of a trust created pursuant to a prearrangement sales contract shall be paid to the certified provider who sold the contract if the certified provider who sold the contract swears, by affida…
A depository may not make any distributions from preconstruction sales contract trust deposits except as provided in this section. The construction or development of undeveloped interment spaces shall be commenced on the phase of construction or development, or the section or sections of spaces in which sales are made within five years of the date of the fi…
A certified provider shall pay to the Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services a $5 fee for each prearrangement sales contract or preconstruction sales contract entered into, to be paid into a special income earning fund in the State Treasury, separate from the General Fund, known as the Funeral and Cemetery Consumer Protection Trust Fund…
A person may not engage in unsolicited door to door or telephone advertising and marketing of prearrangement sales contracts or preconstruction sales contracts. The costs of advertising and marketing may not be paid from trust funds. Advertising and marketing a prearrangement sales contract or a preconstruction sales contract by a funeral service practition…
The Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services may examine the conditions and resources, including sales contracts, of a certified provider, master trustee or entity acting as a certified provider or master trustee without certification or registration to determine whether the certified provider, master trustee or entity acting as a certifi…
The Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services may discipline a certified provider, master trustee or entity acting as a certified provider or master trustee without certification or registration who has been found by an audit or examination conducted by the director: To be in violation of ORS 97.923 to 97.949; To have liabilities that ex…
If the Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services has reason to believe that a person has violated any provision of ORS 97.923 to 97.949, the director may give the information relative to the violation to the appropriate federal, state or local law enforcement officer having jurisdiction over the violation. If the director, in the course o…
REVISED UNIFORM ANATOMICAL GIFT ACT
ORS 97.951 to 97.982 may be cited as the Revised Uniform Anatomical Gift Act. Note: 97.951 to 97.982 were enacted into law by the Legislative Assembly but were not added to or made a part of ORS chapter 97 or any series therein by legislative action. See Preface to Oregon Revised Statutes for further explanation.
As used in ORS 97.951 to 97.982: “Adult” means an individual who is 18 years of age or older. “Agent” means: A health care representative or an alternate health care representative appointed under ORS 127.510; or An individual expressly authorized to make an anatomical gift on the principal’s behalf by any record signed by the principal. “Anatomical gif…
Subject to ORS 97.963, a donor may make an anatomical gift of a donor’s body or body part during the life of the donor for the purpose of transplantation, therapy, research or education. An anatomical gift may be made in the manner provided in ORS 97.957 by: The donor, if the donor is an adult or if the donor is a minor and is: Emancipated; or Authorized…
A donor may make an anatomical gift: By a designation on the donor’s driver license or identification card; In a will; During a terminal illness or injury of the donor, by any form of communication addressed to at least two adults, at least one of whom is a disinterested witness; By a donor card or other record signed by the donor or other person making …
Except as provided in subsection (7) or (8) of this section, an anatomical gift made under ORS 97.957 may be amended or revoked only by the donor in accordance with the provisions of this section and may not be amended or revoked by any other person otherwise authorized to make, amend or revoke a gift under ORS 97.963 or 97.967. A donor or other person auth…
An individual may refuse to make an anatomical gift of the individual’s body or body part by: A record signed by: The individual; or Subject to subsection (2) of this section, another individual acting at the direction of the individual if the individual is physically unable to sign; The individual’s will, whether or not the will is admitted to probate o…
An anatomical gift of a donor’s body or body part, if the donor or another person made an anatomical gift of the donor’s body or body part under ORS 97.957 or an amendment to an anatomical gift of the donor’s body or body part under ORS 97.959, may not be revoked except in accordance with ORS 97.959. A donor’s revocation of an anatomical gift of the donor’s…
Subject to subsections (2) and (3) of this section and unless prohibited by ORS 97.961 or 97.963, an anatomical gift of a decedent’s body or body part for purpose of transplantation, therapy, research or education may be made by any member of the following classes of persons who is reasonably available, in the following order: An agent of the decedent at th…
A person authorized to make an anatomical gift under ORS 97.965 may make an anatomical gift by a document of gift signed by the person making the gift or by that person’s oral communication that is electronically recorded or is contemporaneously reduced to a record and signed by the individual receiving the oral communication. Subject to subsection (3) of t…
An anatomical gift may be made to the following persons named in the document of gift: A hospital, accredited medical school, dental school, college, university, organ procurement organization or other appropriate person, for research or education; Subject to subsection (2) of this section, an individual designated by the person making the anatomical gift …
The following persons shall make a reasonable search of an individual who the persons reasonably believe is dead or near death for a document of gift or other information identifying the individual as a donor or as an individual who made a refusal: A law enforcement officer, firefighter, emergency medical services provider or other emergency rescuer finding…
A document of gift need not be delivered during the donor’s lifetime to be effective. Upon or after an individual’s death, a person in possession of a document of gift or a refusal to make an anatomical gift with respect to the individual shall allow examination and copying of the document of gift or the refusal by a person authorized to make or object to t…
When a hospital refers an individual at or near death to a procurement organization, the organization shall make a reasonable search of the records of the Department of Transportation and any donor registry that it knows exists for the geographical area in which the individual resides to ascertain whether the individual has made an anatomical gift. A procur…
Each hospital in this state shall enter into agreements or affiliations with procurement organizations for coordination of procurement and use of anatomical gifts. Note: See note under 97.951.
A person who acts in accordance with ORS 97.951 to 97.982 or with the applicable anatomical gift law of another state, or attempts in good faith to do so, is not liable for the act in a civil action, criminal prosecution or administrative proceeding. Neither the person making an anatomical gift nor the donor’s estate is liable for any injury or damage that …
A document of gift is valid if executed in accordance with: ORS 97.951 to 97.982; The laws of the state or country where it was executed; or The laws of the state or country where the person making the anatomical gift was domiciled, had a place of residence or was a national at the time the document of gift was executed. If a document of gift is valid un…
The Oregon Health Authority may allow an organ procurement organization to establish a donor registry. Only one donor registry may be established within this state. The donor registry shall comply with subsections (3) and (4) of this section. The Department of Transportation shall: Cooperate with a person who administers the donor registry established un…
As used in this section: “Advance directive” has the meaning given that term in ORS 127.505. “Declaration” means a record signed by a prospective donor specifying the circumstances under which a life support system may be withheld or withdrawn from the prospective donor. “Health care decision” means any decision regarding the health care of a prospective …
A medical examiner shall cooperate with procurement organizations to maximize the opportunity to recover anatomical gifts for the purpose of transplantation, therapy, research or education. Subject to ORS 97.980, if a medical examiner receives notice from a procurement organization that an anatomical gift might be available or was made with respect to a dec…
Upon request of a procurement organization, a medical examiner shall release to the procurement organization the name, contact information and available medical and social history of a decedent whose body is under the jurisdiction of the medical examiner. If the decedent’s body or body part is medically suitable for transplantation, therapy, research or educ…
Except as otherwise provided in subsection (3) of this section, a person commits the crime of purchase or sale of a body part for transplantation or therapy if the person, for valuable consideration, knowingly purchases or sells a body part for transplantation or therapy if removal of the body part from an individual is intended to occur after the individual…
A person commits the crime of alteration of a document of gift if the person, in order to obtain a financial gain, intentionally falsifies, forges, conceals, defaces or obliterates a document of gift, an amendment or revocation of a document of gift or a refusal. Alteration of a document of gift is a Class C felony. Note: See note under 97.951.
The provisions of ORS 97.951 to 97.982 modify, limit and supersede the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act, 15 U.S.C. 7001 et seq., but do not modify, limit or supersede section 101(a) of the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act, 15 U.S.C. 7001, or authorize electronic delivery of any of the notices described in sec…
A person named executor who carries out an anatomical gift of the testator made under the provisions of ORS 97.957 before issuance of letters testamentary or under a will which is not admitted to probate shall not be liable to the surviving spouse or next of kin for performing acts necessary to carry out the gift of the testator.
The procuring, processing, furnishing, distributing, administering or using of any part of a human body for the purpose of injecting, transfusing or transplanting that part into a human body is not a sales transaction covered by an implied warranty under the Uniform Commercial Code or otherwise. As used in this section, “part” means organs or parts of organ…
In addition to any other duties of the Department of Transportation, the department may apply for, accept and expend, use or dispose of moneys and property received from the federal government for the purpose of establishing any program of restoration, care, maintenance and preservation of cemeteries. The department shall administer any funds received pursua…
Violation of ORS 97.160 is a Class A misdemeanor. Every officer, agent or employee of this state or of any county, city or any other municipal subdivision thereof who willfully neglects to notify the State Mortuary and Cemetery Board of the existence of a body as required by ORS 97.170 to 97.210 or who refuses to deliver possession of such body according to…
Violation of any of the provisions of ORS 97.937 is a Class A misdemeanor.
Violation of any of the provisions of ORS 97.931, 97.933, 97.941 or 97.943 is punishable as a Class A misdemeanor. _______________