The Missouri Legislature has reform of Chapter 436, the preneed funeral law, on the fast track. With the speed that Senate Bill 1 has been amended and perfected, it may be more appropriate to label this reform as being in the express lane. However, Missouri legislators must not lose track of the cemetery industry’s efforts
Cemeteries
Cemetery Endowed Care Funds and the Fixed Income Investment
The Federal Reserve’s December 17th decision to cut its interest rate to less than a quarter of a percent is meant to encourage investors back into the stock market. But for many cemeteries, the prospect of depressed interest rates will have dire consequences to endowed/perpetual care trusts that are subject to state laws which limit…
The long, winding road to reform: Michigan
Even when the need for reform is apparent to all, the legislative process can take years. With the Michigan Senate having approved a House substitute, that state’s cemeteries are a step closer to reform that could have avoided Clayton Smart’s pillaging of $70 million dollars of endowed care funds.
Who would have thought it: a Forever cemetery and financial irregularities
When its Halloween, the media is naturally attracted to a story that involves horror and a cemetery. The Belleville News-Democrat found a new type of horror for its seasonal article involving a cemetery: Missing Trust Funds!
For added suspense, the newspaper reports there are two cemeteries, and both were (or are?) owned and operated by…
Consumer Advocacy: Pulling Punches
Funeral homes and cemeteries are businesses that serve families when they are most vulnerable. To guard against exploitation, the death care industry establishes standards of professionalism, and state governments pass laws and regulations. Consumer advocacy plays an important role in educating consumers about these standards, and providing families tools in evaluating death care operators. To…
Cemetery Associations: Where’s the manual?
Who do you turn to when grass isn’t being cut, or the grave marker falls over? Or, who can approve the transfer of the ownership of my mother’s grave space?
Ultimately, the answer depends on who owns the cemetery. But, determining who owns the cemetery can often prove confusing to both the public and the…
Trade Association Membership: weighing the costs vs. the benefits
Mortuary Management’s July/August Colleague Wisdom column underscores how difficult it can be to run a trade association. I can empathize with the funeral home operators who took the time to provide their thoughts. As an attorney who specializes in the death care industry, I have to weigh the costs and benefits of membership in trade associations from…
Who is buried next to mom?
David L. Bingham, Jr. (Junior) is getting his 15 minutes of fame.
The Associated Press ran Junior’s story about the wrong David L. Bingham, Sr. having been buried next to his mother. The cemetery has offered Junior some options for correcting the misburial, but he has rejected them all. A demand for compensation is in the…
Delaware’s Cemetery Oversight Legislation – how many cooks are in the kitchen
One of our first blog posts was about Delaware’s legislative effort to tackle the state’s growing problems with cemetery oversight. After a recent public hearing before the legislative study committee, it doesn’t sound like the committee is any closer to a consensus on what the state’s solution should be. Sen. Margaret Rose Henry may be getting a…
Grandview Memorial Gardens: Round up the suspects
The families of those buried at Grandview Memorial Gardens are angry. First they are advised that the trusts meant to fund future burials and the care for those graves are not properly funded. Next, they learn that some of the cemetery’s gardens have a problem with grave spaces flooding with water. When Indiana regulators and…