CHAPTER 64
Fees for the Degrees
REG. 64-1
MINIMUM INITIATION FEE.
No lodge in this state
shall confer any of the Symbolic degrees in Masonry for less than fifty
dollars. [5-2.1; 49-10.1].
1. A lodge may charge more but not less than
the prescribed minimum fee.
2. Each lodge shall state in its by-laws the
amount to be charged by it as a fee for the degrees.
3. The fee for the degrees shall not be
prorated in any manner.
4. A lodge shall collect the same fee for
the degrees from each petitioner without discrimination.
5. It shall not dispense with, waive, or
refund the same or any part thereof by any plan or device whatever, except when
the petition is rejected or no degree is conferred. [49-10.1; 64-4.1; 64-4; 64-3; 64-4.5; 66-2; 67-6; 69-2; 73-3.3; 75-18].
REG. 64-2
Obsolete. (This regulation amended,
effective 7/31/2000)
REG. 64-3
FEE MUST ACCOMPANY PETITION.
No lodge shall receive any
petition for the degrees unless the prescribed fee shall have been actually
paid in full, in money, to the proper officer. No written or verbal promise to
pay the same be received in lieu thereof.
The fee for initiation
shall be promptly returned
when a petition is withdrawn,
the Master refuses to entertain a petition,
a lodge has no jurisdiction to entertain a petition,
the petitioner is not eligible or qualified to receive the
degrees,
a petitioner is rejected,
a petitioner elected to receive the degrees becomes
mentally, physically, or otherwise disqualified before initiation, or
if a petitioner elected to receive the degrees dies before
initiation
1. Where a lodge
has legally received the fee for the degrees and the petitioner is elected, the
lodge shall refund the fee in full if by action of the lodge it has not
conferred the first degree on the petitioner within one year of his election.
2. Should an
elected petitioner fail to appear for the degrees within one year of his
election, his election shall be void and he shall forfeit the fee paid. The
lodge may, in its discretion, return the fee. [64-4.1].
3. If a candidate
has moved from the jurisdiction of a lodge after he has been elected to receive
the degrees and before he is initiated, he shall not be entitled to the return
of the fee paid, but the lodge may return the fee. [42-10;
42-13; 64-4.1].
4. If the lodge
has conferred the first degree on the petitioner no part of the fee shall be
returned at any time even if the brother is rejected for advancement. [64-4.2; 64-4.3; 69-2].
5. In no case
shall the lodge use any part of the fee until the petitioner has been
initiated. [64-4.1; 64-4.2; 64-4.3; 69-2].
Where one lodge confers a
degree for another, the lodge that does the work can collect only such fee from
the candidate as the lodge for which the work is done may direct. The
compensation, if any, to the lodge conferring the degree shall be agreed upon
in advance. [71-10.4].
REG. 64-6 CHANGE IN FEE. The increase or reduction by a
lodge of the fee for the degrees shall not apply to one whose petition has been
received and action is pending thereon nor to one on whom any degree has been
conferred.