Perpetual Care
The term “perpetual care” generally refers to the funds used for repair and general maintenance of cemetery grounds, which includes landscaping and lawn mowing during the growing season. These funds also help keep the roads and paths clear for visitors.
Some states actually require “perpetual care,” which is also known as “permanent care” or “endowed.” The funds are held in perpetual trust, and these funds might end up being divided between an individual lot’s care and the cemetery’s general upkeep around all of the lots.
Between the interest and dividend income supplied by these funds, the ever-increasing maintenance costs of a cemetery are continually met.
Perpetual Care Funds: What Do They Pay For?
The term is broad, but there are specific things that this fund is expected to manage. These funds are essential for cemetery care.
Care For Individual Lots
This is considered annual expenditures, like mowing of the grass, planting flowers, tree trimming and other landscaping items around the cemetery. In the case of The Gardens of Boca Raton Cemetery and Funeral Services, the above-ground graves, crypts, and mausoleums are upkept by these perpetual funds.
Cemetery Upkeep
Cemetery upkeep from a broader sense means that perpetual care will also help pay for unexpected costs or costs that happen at different points of a property’s age. These non-annual expenditures include things like road repair, fixing fences or stone walls, building maintenance for chapels or mausoleums, and similar items. Some perpetual funds could also be used to repair fallen headstones.
Water and Sewage
Water and sewage is also paid for out of perpetual care funds, but this can also become a non-annual expense if the water and sewer systems need to be repaired.
What Do Families Care For?
Usually, the family of the deceased is responsible for caring for keeping the headstone and the gravesite clean and uncluttered. With the crypts and mausoleums at The Gardens of Boca Raton, families are responsible for keeping their niche, crypt or mausoleum bright with flowers and other decorations.
(However, cemetery management might remove some flowers and decorations if they impede their maintenance routine, or if they detract from the overall beauty of the area.)
Generally, it’s important to understand that perpetual care is mainly to care for the grounds, the upkeep of the area and the grave, and the lawn maintenance. But individual gravesite beauty is still up to the family of the deceased.
The Gardens of Boca Raton Cemetery and Funeral Services is an above-ground cemetery that offers many options for interment, including above-ground graves, mausoleums, crypts, and niches. Come to the funeral home offices or call us at (561) 989-9190 to discuss perpetual care further. Our offices are located on North Military Trail, north of NW 40th Street and west of I-95.
