The County Book, Anne Arundel County
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Within 10 days of receiving payment under a pre-need contract, the seller deposits into an interest-bearing, FDIC-insured escrow or trust account at least 80 percent of the selling price of a casket or casket vault and 100 percent of the payment for all other goods and services. The buyer receives a copy of the deposit slip.
A funeral home that sells pre-need burial goods owes the cemetery pre-need regime's annual trust report to the Office of Cemetery Oversight within 120 days after fiscal-year close, with a $25 fee, on the OCO form. This regime is separate from the funeral pre-need rules of the Board of Morticians and Funeral Directors.
Mortician licenses expire April 30 every two years. The renewal fee is $600. A $400 late fee is assessed if the Board does not receive the renewal application on or before May 15 following the April 30 expiry (2026 cycle posture; COMAR states the late fee as payable if the renewal fee is received more than 15 days after the expiration date).
Mortuary Transport Service permits, Crematory Permits, and Crematory Operator Registrations expire September 30 every two years (even-numbered years). Late fees: transport permit $400; crematory permit and operator $200.
Funeral establishment licenses, corporate licenses, restricted establishments, courtesy cards, funeral director licenses, and surviving spouse licenses expire November 30 every two years (even-numbered years). Renewal fees: establishment $700, corporation $975, funeral director $600.
An apprentice license runs a 1-year term, renewable only two times. The apprenticeship itself is a 3-year shape (the initial year plus two consecutive renewals), inside which the degree must be obtained within 3 years of commencing. On termination of an apprenticeship, the notarized assist and embalming statements are due to the Board within 30 days.
Each funeral establishment and restricted establishment shall be inspected on a biennial basis, and also on investigation or on sale or change of ownership. The Board schedules the inspection; no home-set date exists.
Under COMAR, annual Family Security Trust Fund payments of $375 per active licensed establishment are due November 30 of every year, with fee notices sent by September 1 and a $500 late fee assessed December 1. The Board's own Family Security Trust Fund page, fetched October 31, 2026, states that unless you are a new establishment applying for an initial license, no fees are due at this time, as the fund has reached its $1,000,000 ceiling.
Each mortician, funeral director, and surviving spouse licensee submits, with the renewal application, a list of a minimum of 12 CEUs per renewal period, including a minimum of 1 CEU hour in an approved course on preneed law per renewal cycle. Up to 3 carry-over credits may be granted per renewal cycle. One CEU is 50 clock minutes, and CE certificates are submitted only if selected for audit.
Each year a pre-need contract is in effect, until the beneficiary's death, the seller sends the buyer a tax form stating the amount of interest accumulated in the escrow or trust account. The regulation pins no fixed calendar date for the mailing.
The establishment shall notify the Board, on a Board form, of any change of supervising mortician or supervising funeral director within 10 days, and may not operate without a supervising mortician or supervising funeral director who is continuously responsible for more than 30 calendar days.
On a sale or change in ownership of a funeral establishment, the new owner shall notify the Board within 14 days.