In its past two newsletters, my local chapter of the Funeral Consumer Alliance has reported on the difficulties in finding cemeteries that permit natural burials. In the Spring newsletter, the FCA of Greater KC reported on how the Catholic Cemeteries of Northeast Kansas was reconsidering natural burials at one of its six cemeteries. In
Cemeteries
The “Problem” Cemetery: The Difference a Trustee Makes
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Cemeteries
As cemeteries struggle with harsh economic conditions, regulators are bound to look at their ‘problem cemeteries’ and weigh whether legal proceedings are necessary to preserve the care funds mandated by state law. To the extent such proceedings are premised in part on how capital gains are defined and whether distributions from capital gains are an…
Wisconsin Cemeteries: Who needs a fiduciary?
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Cemeteries
Here is proof that readership of newspapers is going down.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel called a few weeks back about a Wisconsin legislative bill that sought investment freedom for cemetery trust funds. With the legislative battle that was waged a year ago in Wisconsin, we had expected the bill might represent a renewed …
Cemetery Preneed Leads: buried under a mountain of paper
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Cemeteries, Recordkeeping
A cemetery client once lamented that he was tired of being the last in line. He was alluding to the reality that when there is a death, families call the funeral home before the cemetery. As part of the final arrangements, the funeral home will often sell the family a vault and marker, …
Cemeteries: the insurance void
By Bill Stalter on
For obvious reasons, life insurance is the preneed funding choice for many funeral directors. One hundred percent trusting laws give proactive preneed organizations no choice but to use insurance funding. Insurance provides the commissions needed to finance marketing and a sales force, and, maybe as important, relieves the funeral home from preneed accounting and administration.
Cemetery Preneed Challenges: bucket accounting
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Cemeteries, Preneed
As alluded to in our prior post, the cemetery’s ability to deliver burial rights and merchandise prior to death complicates the preneed transaction. In a post, we labeled this the ‘bucket factor’ (Cemetery Preneed Oversight: the bucket factor). In addition to burial spaces, cemeteries can deliver markers, monuments, vases, urns, outer …
The Preneed Haves and Have Nots
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Cemeteries, Preneed
It is no secret that the larger funeral home operators have more preneed options than the industry’s mom and pops. The large operators have the volume of business that will attract insurance companies and banks, and their program incentives and discounts. Economies of scale provide the larger operator preneed advantages when going ‘toe to toe&rsquo…
Private Burial Grounds: better plan ahead
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Cemeteries
The Internet has provided consumer advocates a valuable platform for educating the public with ‘how to’ death care information. But, for the most part, that ‘how to’ information has been confined to the funeral half of the equation. A recent Mother Earth News article provided a detailed description of the issues faced by the author…
Oak Ridge Cemetery: Netting to Make Ends Meet
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Cemeteries
In relation to many of its peers, Springfield’s Oak Ridge Cemetery could be labeled progressive. Oak Ridge maintains both an endowed care trust and a preneed trust. In contrast, a substantial number of the country’s cemeteries have neither. The fact that Oak Ridge Cemetery is owned and operated by the City of Springfield, Illinois, makes…
Competing Mortuaries and Cemeteries: when everyone loses
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Cemeteries
Mortuary Management recently ran a short editorial criticizing cemeteries, stating “we can only conclude that cemeteries will, in the long run, be the losers”, and “it may be time for a reevaluation of standards and staunch principles of the past”. The editorial is nothing more than a handful of comments from anonymous funeral directors about…