South Carolina Funeral Law [2026/2027] |
UPDATED ACTUAL Exam Question and
Answer | Final Review Guide
• Of the eleven members of the South Carolina State Board of Funeral Service, how
many must be members from the general public not connected with a funeral service
establishment? -✓✓ Two
• Of the eleven members of the South Carolina State Board of Funeral Service, how
many members can the South Carolina Funeral Directors Association recommend? -✓✓
Six
• Of the eleven members of the South Carolina State Board of Funeral Service, how
many members can the South Carolina Morticians Association recommend? -✓✓ Three
• Nine of the eleven members of the South Carolina State Board must have been
licensed as funeral directors and embalmers for at least how many years? -✓✓ Five
Years
• Any business conducted by the board must be by _________. -✓✓ positive majority
vote
• In order to be classified a funeral home, how many caskets must be displayed? -✓✓
Six Adult Caskets
• To be a funeral home manager, how long must a licensed funeral director be licensed
in South Carolina? -✓✓ One Year
• No permit to operate a funeral home may be issued to a corporation, partnership, or
individual when what occurs? This does not apply to established funeral homes existing
prior to July 1, 1969. -✓✓ The name of an unlicensed person appears in the name of
the corporation, partnership, or individually owned business.
• The board shall employ an inspector who must be a licensed embalmer and funeral
director with not fewer than _______ consecutive years' experience as a licensee. -✓✓
five
• How many months of of service must an apprentice finish under the direct supervision
of a licensed funeral director to be eligible to become a licensed funeral director and or
embalmer? -✓✓ Twenty-Four Months
• No license may be issued or renewed for a period exceeding how many years? -✓✓
Two Years
,• All licenses and renewals expire on what date? -✓✓ June 30th each even year
• A person holding a license under this chapter may have the license renewed for a two-
year period by applying within how many days preceding or following the expiration of
his license? -✓✓ 30 days
• A permit for a crematory or permit for a funeral establishment which operated a
crematory may be renewed for how many years by applying within thirty days preceding
or following the expiration of the permit, upon forms provided by the board. -✓✓ Two
Years
• How many apprentices are permitted to register under any one person licensed as a
funeral director or embalmer? -✓✓ Two
• Each licensee must attend a minimum of how many credit hours annually? -✓✓ Three
• The continuing education requirement does not apply to whom? -✓✓ A person who is
not a manager of record of a funeral home, funeral establishment, or mortuary if the
person has been licensed for thirty years or more or is sixty years old or older.
• A licensed funeral director shall make arrangements with clients and must be at the
place of the . . . . -✓✓ funeral and committal services
• The board must be notified within how many days upon the death, resignation, or
incapacity of the manager of a funeral establishment or crematory. -✓✓ 30 days
• When more than one person proposed to engage in the operation of a funeral
establishment or crematory as a partnership or a corporation, one of the partners or
corporation officers must be what and, if not, they must employ whom? -✓✓ Licensed
Funeral Director or Full-Time Manager
• No person licensed as a funeral director or embalmer shall remove or embalm a dead
human body when the person has information indicating what has taken place? -✓✓
Crime or Violence of any sort in connection with the cause of death until permission first
has been obtained from the coroner or medical examiner or some other qualified person
acting in this capacity.
• The continuing education completed must represent an in-depth study of how many
different topics and be gained through participation in formal instruction, seminars, or
workshops approved by the Board. -✓✓ Three different topics
• If a retort is unavailable for any period exceeding 24 hours, the crematory shall do
what? -✓✓ Refuse to accept any body until such time as the retort is working, unless
that body can be maintained under appropriate refrigeration.
,• If the crematory provides a refrigeration unit for the holding of human remains in its
custody for twenty-four hours or more, it must be capable of maintaining interior
temperatures of what? -✓✓ 40 Degrees Fahrenheit
• An embalming room must be at least how many feet working space excluding tables,
cabinets, and other equipment? -✓✓ 100 Sq. Feet
• An embalming room must have what to pass inspection? -✓✓ Sanitary flooring and
necessary drainage, ventilation, approved tables, hot and cold running water and a sink
separate from table drainage, an OSHA approved shower and eye wash station, hydro
or electric aspirator, embalming machine, or gravity bottle or bulb or hand pump, at least
one scalpel, two aneurysm needles, assorted canulae, suture needles, trocar, antiseptic
soap, twelve (12) bottles or arterial fluid, and two bottles of cavity fluid.
• A prep room must have a ventilating system that is screened and has an air exchange
of how many times per hour to the outside? -✓✓ 12 times
• How many caskets must be displayed to pass inspection? -✓✓ Six adult caskets on
the premises displayed or available for display in conjunction with the display of cut-
away caskets, an online kiosk or other means of funeral merchandise display.
• Common Trust Fund -✓✓ A trust in which the proceeds of more than one funeral
contract may be held by the trustee.
• Preneed Funeral Contract -✓✓ A contract which has for its purpose the furnishings or
performance of funeral services or the furnishing or delivery of personal property,
merchandise, or services of any nature in connection with the final disposition of a dead
human body to be furnished or delivered at a time determinable by the death of the
person whose body is to be disposed of, but does not mean the furnishing of a
cemetery lot, crypt, niche, mausoleum, grave marker or monument.
• Trust Account -✓✓ A federally insured account where the funds shall be paid to a
provider only when the provider furnishes the financial institution with a certified
certificate of death and a certified statement that the services have been performed and
the merchandise has been delivered.
• Selling a vault preneed -✓✓ One hundred percent of funds received by the seller at the
time of payment must be held as trust funds and deposited in a financial institution. All
of the interest, dividends, increases, or accretions of whatever nature earned by the
funds deposited in a trust account must remain with the principal of the account and
become part of it.
• Preneed Trust Fund After Death -✓✓ The principal and all accrued earnings must be
applied to the cost in effect at the time of death of the services and merchandise
, specified in the contract. A shortfall in the funds must be paid by the next of kin or the
estate of the beneficiary and any excess must be refunded to the estate of the
beneficiary.
• Guaranteed Preneed Contract -✓✓ The provider may enter into a contract and
guarantee to provide services and merchandise in accordance with a preneed funeral
contract in the future at no additional cost to the purchaser when the full contract price
amount is paid to the provider. After the death of the beneficiary of a guaranteed-price
contract, the principal and all accrued earnings must be paid to the provider to cover the
costs in effect at the time of death of the services and merchandise specified in the
contract.
• The funds must not be paid by the financial institution until a ___________ and a
___________ that all of the terms and conditions of the agreements have been fully
performed are furnished by the provider to the financial institution. -✓✓ certified death
certificate ... | ... certified statement
• All contracts must be in writing, and a contract form must not be used without prior
approval of the __________. -✓✓ department
• All funds received from preneed contracts must be placed where? -✓✓ Federally
Insured Account
• What type of trust(s) may a trustee establish for preneed contracts? -✓✓ The trustee
may establish an individual trust for each contract or a common trust fund with a
financial institution that would maintain accounting for each individual deposit and
furnish a quarterly report to the provider.
• The trustee has the authority to _______, but the trustee must notify the purchaser or
the beneficiary of a deceased purchaser with thirty days afterwards. -✓✓ transfer trust
funds from one financial institution to another
• All earnings accrue to the trust except that the provider may do what? -✓✓ Withdraw
10 percent of the annual earnings of the trust to cover trust administration.
• If the purchaser fails to make payments as provided in the contract, the contract is
what? -✓✓ Voidable at the option of the provider and he may retain 10 percent of the
amount paid on the contract as a fee and return the remaining funds to the purchaser.
• If the merchandise selected preneed is not available at the time of need, the provider
shall do what? -✓✓ Shall make available merchandise of equal or greater value.
• Who has the option to select an irrevocable preneed contract? -✓✓ The purchaser
UPDATED ACTUAL Exam Question and
Answer | Final Review Guide
• Of the eleven members of the South Carolina State Board of Funeral Service, how
many must be members from the general public not connected with a funeral service
establishment? -✓✓ Two
• Of the eleven members of the South Carolina State Board of Funeral Service, how
many members can the South Carolina Funeral Directors Association recommend? -✓✓
Six
• Of the eleven members of the South Carolina State Board of Funeral Service, how
many members can the South Carolina Morticians Association recommend? -✓✓ Three
• Nine of the eleven members of the South Carolina State Board must have been
licensed as funeral directors and embalmers for at least how many years? -✓✓ Five
Years
• Any business conducted by the board must be by _________. -✓✓ positive majority
vote
• In order to be classified a funeral home, how many caskets must be displayed? -✓✓
Six Adult Caskets
• To be a funeral home manager, how long must a licensed funeral director be licensed
in South Carolina? -✓✓ One Year
• No permit to operate a funeral home may be issued to a corporation, partnership, or
individual when what occurs? This does not apply to established funeral homes existing
prior to July 1, 1969. -✓✓ The name of an unlicensed person appears in the name of
the corporation, partnership, or individually owned business.
• The board shall employ an inspector who must be a licensed embalmer and funeral
director with not fewer than _______ consecutive years' experience as a licensee. -✓✓
five
• How many months of of service must an apprentice finish under the direct supervision
of a licensed funeral director to be eligible to become a licensed funeral director and or
embalmer? -✓✓ Twenty-Four Months
• No license may be issued or renewed for a period exceeding how many years? -✓✓
Two Years
,• All licenses and renewals expire on what date? -✓✓ June 30th each even year
• A person holding a license under this chapter may have the license renewed for a two-
year period by applying within how many days preceding or following the expiration of
his license? -✓✓ 30 days
• A permit for a crematory or permit for a funeral establishment which operated a
crematory may be renewed for how many years by applying within thirty days preceding
or following the expiration of the permit, upon forms provided by the board. -✓✓ Two
Years
• How many apprentices are permitted to register under any one person licensed as a
funeral director or embalmer? -✓✓ Two
• Each licensee must attend a minimum of how many credit hours annually? -✓✓ Three
• The continuing education requirement does not apply to whom? -✓✓ A person who is
not a manager of record of a funeral home, funeral establishment, or mortuary if the
person has been licensed for thirty years or more or is sixty years old or older.
• A licensed funeral director shall make arrangements with clients and must be at the
place of the . . . . -✓✓ funeral and committal services
• The board must be notified within how many days upon the death, resignation, or
incapacity of the manager of a funeral establishment or crematory. -✓✓ 30 days
• When more than one person proposed to engage in the operation of a funeral
establishment or crematory as a partnership or a corporation, one of the partners or
corporation officers must be what and, if not, they must employ whom? -✓✓ Licensed
Funeral Director or Full-Time Manager
• No person licensed as a funeral director or embalmer shall remove or embalm a dead
human body when the person has information indicating what has taken place? -✓✓
Crime or Violence of any sort in connection with the cause of death until permission first
has been obtained from the coroner or medical examiner or some other qualified person
acting in this capacity.
• The continuing education completed must represent an in-depth study of how many
different topics and be gained through participation in formal instruction, seminars, or
workshops approved by the Board. -✓✓ Three different topics
• If a retort is unavailable for any period exceeding 24 hours, the crematory shall do
what? -✓✓ Refuse to accept any body until such time as the retort is working, unless
that body can be maintained under appropriate refrigeration.
,• If the crematory provides a refrigeration unit for the holding of human remains in its
custody for twenty-four hours or more, it must be capable of maintaining interior
temperatures of what? -✓✓ 40 Degrees Fahrenheit
• An embalming room must be at least how many feet working space excluding tables,
cabinets, and other equipment? -✓✓ 100 Sq. Feet
• An embalming room must have what to pass inspection? -✓✓ Sanitary flooring and
necessary drainage, ventilation, approved tables, hot and cold running water and a sink
separate from table drainage, an OSHA approved shower and eye wash station, hydro
or electric aspirator, embalming machine, or gravity bottle or bulb or hand pump, at least
one scalpel, two aneurysm needles, assorted canulae, suture needles, trocar, antiseptic
soap, twelve (12) bottles or arterial fluid, and two bottles of cavity fluid.
• A prep room must have a ventilating system that is screened and has an air exchange
of how many times per hour to the outside? -✓✓ 12 times
• How many caskets must be displayed to pass inspection? -✓✓ Six adult caskets on
the premises displayed or available for display in conjunction with the display of cut-
away caskets, an online kiosk or other means of funeral merchandise display.
• Common Trust Fund -✓✓ A trust in which the proceeds of more than one funeral
contract may be held by the trustee.
• Preneed Funeral Contract -✓✓ A contract which has for its purpose the furnishings or
performance of funeral services or the furnishing or delivery of personal property,
merchandise, or services of any nature in connection with the final disposition of a dead
human body to be furnished or delivered at a time determinable by the death of the
person whose body is to be disposed of, but does not mean the furnishing of a
cemetery lot, crypt, niche, mausoleum, grave marker or monument.
• Trust Account -✓✓ A federally insured account where the funds shall be paid to a
provider only when the provider furnishes the financial institution with a certified
certificate of death and a certified statement that the services have been performed and
the merchandise has been delivered.
• Selling a vault preneed -✓✓ One hundred percent of funds received by the seller at the
time of payment must be held as trust funds and deposited in a financial institution. All
of the interest, dividends, increases, or accretions of whatever nature earned by the
funds deposited in a trust account must remain with the principal of the account and
become part of it.
• Preneed Trust Fund After Death -✓✓ The principal and all accrued earnings must be
applied to the cost in effect at the time of death of the services and merchandise
, specified in the contract. A shortfall in the funds must be paid by the next of kin or the
estate of the beneficiary and any excess must be refunded to the estate of the
beneficiary.
• Guaranteed Preneed Contract -✓✓ The provider may enter into a contract and
guarantee to provide services and merchandise in accordance with a preneed funeral
contract in the future at no additional cost to the purchaser when the full contract price
amount is paid to the provider. After the death of the beneficiary of a guaranteed-price
contract, the principal and all accrued earnings must be paid to the provider to cover the
costs in effect at the time of death of the services and merchandise specified in the
contract.
• The funds must not be paid by the financial institution until a ___________ and a
___________ that all of the terms and conditions of the agreements have been fully
performed are furnished by the provider to the financial institution. -✓✓ certified death
certificate ... | ... certified statement
• All contracts must be in writing, and a contract form must not be used without prior
approval of the __________. -✓✓ department
• All funds received from preneed contracts must be placed where? -✓✓ Federally
Insured Account
• What type of trust(s) may a trustee establish for preneed contracts? -✓✓ The trustee
may establish an individual trust for each contract or a common trust fund with a
financial institution that would maintain accounting for each individual deposit and
furnish a quarterly report to the provider.
• The trustee has the authority to _______, but the trustee must notify the purchaser or
the beneficiary of a deceased purchaser with thirty days afterwards. -✓✓ transfer trust
funds from one financial institution to another
• All earnings accrue to the trust except that the provider may do what? -✓✓ Withdraw
10 percent of the annual earnings of the trust to cover trust administration.
• If the purchaser fails to make payments as provided in the contract, the contract is
what? -✓✓ Voidable at the option of the provider and he may retain 10 percent of the
amount paid on the contract as a fee and return the remaining funds to the purchaser.
• If the merchandise selected preneed is not available at the time of need, the provider
shall do what? -✓✓ Shall make available merchandise of equal or greater value.
• Who has the option to select an irrevocable preneed contract? -✓✓ The purchaser
