With Issues No. 10 through 15 of the FTC’s Funeral Rule notice, the agency begins inquiries on how to ensure the online shopper has access to all of the funeral home’s price lists before making any selections. Would it be sufficient to require the funeral home’s website to provide links for downloading the GPL (and
Recordkeeping
NPS’ Trustee and Income Distributions: Who needs Income?
We had hoped that the Trial Court’s Finding of Facts would shed some light on how a Missouri preneed trust holding life insurance would have income to distribute. Despite being invested primarily in life insurance policies, Allegiant Bank made monthly income distributions to NPS. The Trial Court made several findings on how Allegiant Bank failed…
NPS’ Trial Court: Trustees and Individual Deposit Records
“Allegiant [Bank] violated the industry standard of care by not maintaining consumer-level deposit records, because, as here, where there are multiple beneficiaries of a trust, the trustee must keep records of the individual deposits made for each consumer.”
This finding by the trial court in the NPS civil trial had to come as a shock…
National Prearranged Services: A Serious Lack of Fiduciary Oversight
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…
Missouri Preneed Exam Procedures: New Receipt and Transmission Records
Missouri’s pending preneed exam handbook will establish a new record keeping requirement for the state’s preneed sellers: monthly records of consumer payment receipts and the transmission of those funds to the preneed funding agent. Seller record keeping proposals are not new to the Board. (Missouri Seller Records: The State Board Proposal) The Board’s…
Missouri’s Next Preneed Exam Manual: Start Following the Money
The Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors introduced a new preneed examination handbook at its October meeting. (Click the following hyperlink to access the preneed handbook.) The proposed handbook would change the emphasis of the preneed exams from contract and recordkeeping compliance to tracking consumer funds paid to the funeral home.
For…
Missouri’s Adequate Preneed Records: Performance and Cancellation Records
When the State Board approved a new “adequate seller records” rule on April 25th, there wasn’t much discussion of the documents or reports to be maintained for performed and canceled preneed contracts. In a sense, the Board may not need to expand beyond the FTC’s statement of goods and services requirement. If a…
The Missouri Board Chairman’s Rally Cry: Follow Me, Boys!
Pursuant to a notice that may, or may not, satisfy state law, the Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors met in closed session this morning. At the State Board’s December meeting, Division counsel advised that 24 hours’ notice to the public was required to amend the Board’s agenda. Notice of this 9:00…
The Missouri Funeral Board: Cures for Memory Loss
With its January 9th and 10th agenda, the Missouri State Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers exhibited yet another example of memory loss. Just weeks prior, the State Board voted to have one or more special meetings on seller records and the financial examination process. The motion approved by the Board was to have…
Missouri’s Record Keeping Meeting(s): A Date to Be Determined
In preceding posts, we have outlined recommendations to the Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors regarding the preneed examination process and record keeping requirements. While our correspondence was not included on the Board’s December 13th agenda, the Board entertained a motion to amend the agenda to include our correspondence on the afternoon…