(A) Without first securing a license from the board a person may not accept or hold payments made on a preneed funeral contract, except financial institutions.

1. (1) The State Board of Funeral Service must revoke the license of a funeral home or funeral director, or both, if the funeral home or funeral director: (a) accepts funds for a preneed funeral contract or other prepayment of funeral expenses without a license to sell preneed funeral contracts, or (b) is licensed to sell preneed funeral contracts and fails to deposit the funds collected in trust in a federally insured account as required by Section 32-7-20(H).
2. (2) Application for a license must be in writing, signed by the applicant and verified on forms furnished by the board. Each application must contain at least the following: the full name and address, both residence and place of business, of the applicant and every member, officer, and director of it if the applicant is a firm, partnership, association, or corporation. A license issued pursuant to the application is valid only at the address stated in the application for the applicant or at a new address approved by the board.
3. (3) If a licensee cancels the license and later applies for a new license, the board must investigate the applicant's books, records, and accounts to determine if the applicant violated the provisions of this chapter during the time he did not have a license.

(C) A person selling a preneed funeral contract shall collect from each purchaser a service charge, and all fees collected must be remitted by the person collecting them to the board at least once each month.

1. (1) With the fees collected, the person also must provide the board with a listing of each contract sold. If the listing or fees collected are not sent to the board within sixty days of the last day of the month when the contract was sold, the board must assess a civil penalty of ten dollars for each contract not reported to the board. The monies collected as civil penalties must be deposited in the Preneed Funeral Loss Reimbursement Fund. Upon its own initiative or upon complaint or information received, the board must investigate a person's books, records, and accounts if the board has reason to believe that fees are being collected and either not remitted or not timely remitted.
2. (2) The service charge for each contract must not exceed a total of thirty dollars, twenty-five dollars for the board to use in administering the provisions of this chapter and five dollars to be allocated to the Preneed Funeral Loss Reimbursement Fund.
3. (3) The board must keep a record of each preneed funeral contract for which it receives a service charge.