Funeral services plan contracts are required by law to include an itemized listing of all goods and services purchased and any other costs involved.

Money collected under a prearranged agreement is placed in trust and the trust account is administered by a savings institution in British Columbia in accordance with a written agreement between the savings institution and the funeral provider or cemetery operator. Sellers of prearranged  plans must submit annual reports to the Registrar of Cemeteries and Funeral Services.

A funeral provider or cemetery operator must deposit the money collected into a trust account within 21 days. Sellers are entitled to a deduction for selling expenses of not more than 20 per cent of the amount received.

Funeral homes and cemeteries are prohibited by law to engage in direct selling at a person’s residence or to engage in telephone solicitation. A funeral salesperson may enter your home to sell you a prepaid funeral after receiving an invitation from you at least 24 hours in advance. Back.

If a copy of the contract is not given to you at the time you sign it, or if a copy is not delivered or sent to you by registered mail within seven days after you have signed the contract, you may cancel it and receive a full refund.

If you receive a copy of the contract more than seven days after you have signed it, you

have up to 30 days after receiving it to cancel the contract with a full refund.

Contracts signed at any place other than the funeral provider's place of business (i.e., in your home) may be cancelled with a full refund if you deliver or send a letter by registered mail to the seller within seven days of the date you receive a copy of the signed contract.

After seven days, you are still entitled to cancel a prearranged funeral services plan contract or prepaid cemetery services plan contract, but you will be refunded only 80 per cent of the money paid, plus interest depending on the terms of the contract.

Certain goods that have a unique characteristic or personalized nature may not be refundable.

In any contract of sale (including the sale of a cemetery lot), the seller must explain under what terms a refund will be made. Before you sign the contract, make sure you understand your cancellation rights.

Once you buy a cemetery lot, even if it is part of a prepaid agreement, you have no legal right to cancel, except under the following conditions:

if the contract was signed in your home, in which case you have seven days from the date you receive the signed contract to cancel it with a full refund.

if the contract is not given to you at the time the contract is signed, or if a copy is not delivered to you by registered mail within seven days after the contract is signed, then you have 30 days from when you receive a copy of the signed contract in which to cancel with a full refund.