Missouri Legislation: a final expense trust

Posted on April 4, 2010 by Bill Stalter

The General Laws Committee of the Missouri Senate will hold a hearing this Wednesday (April 7th) on SB 1025. This bill provides hope to many small, rural funeral directors who would rather avoid the preneed transaction and the regulatory morass of SB1.

The bill would add a new Section 208.010.5 whereby individuals seeking to spend down assets to qualify for assistance could establish an irrevocable trust of up to $10,000. The trust could only be used for funeral and burial expenses. The section would also exclude the arrangement from Chapter 436.

When a similar provision was included in last year’s SB1, the funeral directors association expressed concern that the arrangement would be abused. However, the requirements of SB1 have proven burdensome and confusing to the industry, extremely so for the funeral home that only accepts “pre-arrangement funds” as an accommodation.

A Chapter 208 final expense trust would provide the consumer and his Missouri funeral operator a much-needed alternative to the joint account contract.
 

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But for the veterans

Posted on November 11, 2009 by Bill Stalter

Veterans Day invariably results in a few newspaper articles similar to the one written about the Pittston City Cemetery. Out of respect for veterans’ graves, this small Pennsylvania town is seeking volunteers to provide care to its cemetery. Budget cuts and personnel cuts have left Pittston without the resources to provide maintenance to the cemetery.

The Pittston cemetery plight provides a context to one funeral director’s assertion that municipal cemeteries represent a ‘true value’ to consumers. The funeral director fails to grasp that the grave at a municipal cemetery is priced artificially low. Most municipal cemeteries are exempt from contributing to endowed care funds intended to provide care to the graves. Instead, taxpayers must subsidize the cemetery’s care. In lean times, the cemetery must go without care.

But for the veterans, would Pittston be seeking volunteers to cut the weeds and clean up the cemetery? Even in death, these veterans continue to serve their community.

Before purchasing a grave space, consumers should ask the cemetery how its maintenance will be funded in future years. If the cemetery maintains a care fund, determine whether it complies with state laws, and request information about the fund’s trustee.
 

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