§ 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.