Preneed: A Pandora's Box of Problems
Recent problems in Illinois and Kansas have prompted funeral directors, and funeral regulators, to recommend that more regulation should be required of cemeteries, including licensing. What’s good for us is good for you.
When the Illinois Comptroller assured the public that the state was acting promptly to revoke Burr Oak’s license, many distraught families could…
My kids hate August because it means its time to head back to school. This year’s student population in Missouri will be a little larger than last year’s. The Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors has released its meeting agenda, and the state’s preneed industry will be given four crash courses beginning July 30th.
Generally, freshman orientation…
What transpired over the years at Burr Oak Cemetery is an atrocity. Hundreds of grave spaces have been desecrated, causing extreme emotional distress to all families having a loved one buried at the cemetery.
The demand for action has been intense, and Illinois politicians have responded with legislative proposals to improve oversight of cemeteries.
Governor Nixon signed Senate Bill No. 1 on July 16th, giving Missouri preneed sellers six weeks to prepare for Chapter 436’s new requirements. For trust-funded contracts, one of those requirements will be the deposit of all preneed payments to trust. Section 436.430.2 provides in part:
A seller must deposit all payments received on a preneed…
Rather than defend the legality of its master trust, the IFDA sought to enforce the gentlemen’s agreement that the association perceived it had with the Comptroller. The 2006 exchange of correspondence reported by the State Journal-Register underscores the risks that death care operators take when they structure arrangements that exceed the parameters of applicable law.…
NPS’ sister corporation, Forever Illinois, used the Illinois self trusting provisions to administer preneed funds. As with funeral operators, Senate Bill 1682 will force Illinois cemeteries to seek corporate fiduciaries to administer their preneed and endowed care funds.
Last week’s exchange between the State Journal-Register and the Illinois Comptroller’s office underscores just how poorly some regulators (and funeral directors) understand the preneed transaction.
The newspaper’s June 24th editorial included the following statement:
The directors allege they didn’t find out about the audit until fall 2007 when the comptroller revoked the IFDA’s license to…