While most state funeral director associations sponsor a master preneed trust for their members, we cannot find a single state cemetery association that sponsors a master care fund trust for its members. With attendance at cemetery association conventions declining, we are seeing a trend where multiple state associations are banding to create larger regional associations. 
Cemeteries
The Plight of Cemetery Care Funds: Is the Fiduciary to Blame?
Cemetery owners have two choices for their care fund trust: the local bank or the national bank that solicits death care trusts.
When the local bank is used, the care fund is typically administered like an estate planning trust. The bank’s compliance office may be unfamiliar with the applicable state cemetery law and its restrictions…
The Plight of Cemetery Care Funds: Who’s to Blame?
The care fund trust is a source of frustration for most cemetery operators. Rather than offsetting maintenance expenses, the care fund is a state-mandated money pit. A percentage of grave sales must be deposited to trust with little or no income being paid back to the cemetery by the trustee. For the average-sized care fund…
Trump Memorial Gardens: New Jersey Cemetery Exemption
A few days after Ivana Trump’s burial, we received our first call asking about Missouri law and tax breaks for cemeteries. The first caller had descendants buried on grounds that had been taken over by a golf course, and he was inquiring whether the Missouri golf course could be receiving tax benefits by virtue of…
SB3207: Help to Small Illinois Cemeteries
With legislation introduced this past January, Illinois could join those states which expressly authorize cemetery fiduciaries to take the unitrust election and make fixed distributions to cemeteries. Senate Bill No. 3207 proposes to amend Illinois’ Cemetery Care Act to add provisions which would define ‘total return distribution’ and thereby allow care fund trusts to make…
Does Your Cemetery Need a Friend: Independent Maintenance Associations
Search the internet for “cemetery” and “friends of” and you will find a number of independent maintenance associations. We’re not referring to Facebook groups that organize volunteer events for an abandoned cemetery, but rather we want to highlight those formal organizations established to provide continuing financial assistance to an active cemetery.
As a cemetery nears…
Diversification, the Unitrust Election and the Power to Adjust: Reviving Cemetery Care Funds
We believe three fiduciary powers are crucial to reviving cemetery care funds: investment diversification, unitrust elections and the power to adjust. It has been more than 12 years since we first posted about the need to repair cemetery care funds (Cemetery Endowed Care Funds and the Fixed Income Investment). That post touched on…
Cemeteries and Lost Cause Monuments: Not a Solution to the Problem
In a recent Washington Post article, supporters of a Lost Cause monument unsuccessfully argued to have a Confederate statue moved from a county courthouse steps to a local cemetery. The article sets out some of the counter-challenge arguments we described in our prior post. But eventually the small community of Isle of Wright rejected…
Cemeteries and Lost Cause Monuments: The Counter-Challenge
While the greater public sentiment has turned against statues honoring the Confederacy, cemetery operators should anticipate a counter-challenge to the removal of a Lost Cause monument. Support for the Lost Cause monument can be just as fervent as the calls for its removal. With emotions running high in both directions, the removal of the Lost…
Cemetery Regulations and the Lost Cause Monument: An Offensive Structure
If a racial justice challenge is made against a Lost Cause monument, the cemetery’s regulations typically vest authority in the cemetery to remove monuments deemed offensive. Through their rules and regulations, cemeteries reserve the authority to deem what is, or is not, offensive. The following were taken from cemetery websites found through a Google search…