As discussed in a prior post, the Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors is now four years removed from Senate Bill No. 1 and the exigent circumstances that authorized emergency rules. The State Board must now address several issues through the formal rulemaking process. Understanding that the process may take a year or

The anxiety over Missouri’s new preneed law will temporarily peak this Friday with the passing of the due dates for annual reports and license applications. To give the industry a breather, and to assess SB1’s flaws, the Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors reached an informal agreement on October 20th to table any

Missouri will look to a combination of licensing fees from preneed sellers, providers and agents to fund a portion of the projected costs of preneed oversight under SB1. But, most of SB1’s enforcement price will be funded by the $36 to be charged for each preneed contract sold. The ‘per contract’ fee is not new

Rules and regulations provide an important framework for the operation and maintenance of a cemetery.  However, cemeteries should retain the flexibility to revise their rules to adapt to changes in operations, business and customs.   It’s difficult to understand why a cemetery would risk complaints and the prospect of losing business by rigidly adhering to a set

Like homeowner’s covenants, ownership of an interment right in a burial space comes subject to the cemetery’s published rules. Cemetery rules are used to regulate such issues as the planting of trees and shrubs, establishing uniform requirements for markers, the removal of decorations, and a transfer of the interment right. Consequently, it’s common for states