Preneed: A Pandora's Box of Problems
Dear Senator Schatz,
We appreciate that your Senate Appointment Committee has a packed hearing date for April 20th. So, the Missouri funeral industry not represented by the Missouri Funeral Directors and Embalmers Association requests a single question be asked of Ms. Solon:
If confirmed as executive director of the Division of Professional Registration…
This past August we received an email from the Gottcha Board asking about availability to attend a closed meeting call. Anticipating a client was in trouble, we responded that we would accommodate the Board’s request. However, the Board’s purpose for the call was to make an inquiry about representation to resolve the dispute with the…
This past Friday morning, news outlets across the country picked up an Associated Press story regarding Governor Parson’s October ouster of Missouri’s Gottcha Board. (For those not familiar with the Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors, the tag “Gottcha Board” was first given to the Board in 2020 by the Missouri Funeral…
The State of Missouri seems hell-bent on creating work for Jefferson City attorneys. As we reported earlier this summer (You were Warned!), the Division of Professional Registration blundered in its first move to control how the State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors conducts inspections of funeral homes. Since then, the Division has…
In our third post on Missouri’s endowed care cemetery audits we look at the request for the cemetery’s legal documents. The current audit notice requests copies of the cemetery’s trust agreement, rules and regulations, contract forms, deed forms, brochures and any other materials making an endowed care representation. In essence, the audit is going to…
Our previous post discussed care fund audits and the tracking of a cemetery’s property sales and care fund liability. The next step of the audit process is following the money to the care fund trust (and the back from the trust to the cemetery). For these purposes, the Missouri audit notice requests trust statements from…
National Prearranged Services is back in the news after a trial court issued a new $102 million judgment against PNC Bank (the corporate successor of Allegiant Bank). Allegiant Bank served as NPS’ Missouri preneed trustee for six years beginning in 1998. When PNC Bank agreed to purchase Allegiant in 2004, PNC performed due diligence that…
In our last post we discussed the need for the Missouri State Board to provide guidance to their financial examiners regarding Section 436.425 and insurance funded contract forms. In this post we will discuss Section 436.425 and trust or joint account funded contracts.
Subparagraph 9 has created confusion for examiners and sellers. That section states…
At its April meeting, the Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors discussed the formation of a “Phase 3 Committee” that would provide input for the revision of the Board financial examination handbook. The Board staff is about half way through the second round of preneed examinations (“Phase 2”), and the Board wants to…
The Missouri State Board of Embalmer and Funeral Directors met this past December to discuss changes to the Preneed Examination Handbook, and former Board Chairman Don Lakin made a proposal that has merit.
The State Board has licensed approximately 315 preneed sellers. The current preneed examination procedures contemplate an onsite visit to each seller. Many…