Prior to October 31st each year, Missouri preneed sellers must file a renewal/annual report that sets out each preneed contract issued or sold during the reporting period (September 1st through August 31st). We recently had funeral home clients express confusion over when an arrangement with a family constitutes a preneed contract.
Reporting
The Missouri Board Chairman’s Rally Cry: Follow Me, Boys!
By Bill Stalter on
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 MFT Complaint: Rollovers and Common Trust Funds
By Bill Stalter on
In paragraphs 39 through 52, and paragraphs 79 through 95, of the Complaint filed against the Missouri Funeral Trust, the State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors raises issues with regard to the preneed trusts that were transferred by funeral homes to MFT. The re-write of Missouri’s preneed law in 2009 provided the MFT an…
Nebraska Preneed Legislation – Clarifying Trust Liability
By Bill Stalter on
On January 30th, the Nebraska Legislature will conduct a hearing on a bill to fix a problem with the state’s preneed funeral law. The Burial Pre-Need Sale Act was originally passed in 1986, when preneed trusts invested almost exclusively in government bonds. The intent of the Nebraska law was to require the preneed…
Missouri Preneed Records: Disbursements
By Bill Stalter on
When the State Board first discussed the seller records proposal in December 2015, the disbursements records drew complaints from industry members that the examination process was delving too deeply into how funeral homes were conducting their business. Some comments were directed at whether examiners would review statements of goods and services to determine if consumers…
New Missouri Preneed Recordkeeping Requirements: base records and uniformity
By Bill Stalter on
The Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors will meet December 9th, and their agenda includes a proposed regulation for new preneed recordkeeping requirements. Borrowing perhaps from other states’ preneed audit manuals, the regulation sets out a list of journals, ledgers, documents that a preneed seller would be required to maintain. For an…
Preneed Trust Shortages: Missouri’s Income Withdrawals
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Exams/audits, Investments, Legislation, Master Trusts, Missouri - SB1, Recordkeeping, Reporting, Trust Funded
Prior to Missouri re-writing its preneed law in 2009, preneed sellers could draw off realized income so long as the withdrawal did not reduce the trust’s fair market value below trust deposits. Seeking income, many Missouri sellers directed their trustees to invest in bonds. As interest rates declined during the early part of the prior…
Missouri and Preneed Deficiencies: What is a shortage?
By Bill Stalter on
At its June meeting, the Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors gave instructions to their staff to draft legislation that would provide the Board powers to force preneed sellers to contribute funds to their trusts to cover ‘shortages’. The instruction was not without some controversy as one Board member questioned why he was…
Cemetery Care Fund Reports: The Operator’s Vicarious Liability
By Bill Stalter on
Typically, the standard by which a cemetery is judged to be abandoned is whether the grass is getting cut. But for licensed cemeteries, some states’ laws may also include provisions to deem a cemetery abandoned when regulatory reports are not filed. Care fund reports are intended to inform the cemetery regulator whether the operator is…
Too Literal of an Interpretation: Mississippi and Preneed Taxes
By Bill Stalter on
The Mississippi Secretary of State seems to be taking a very proactive approach to the regulation of preneed and perpetual care funds. Over the course of the last few years, the Regulation and Enforcement Division of the Secretary of State’s office has averaged an enforcement proceeding per month. We were curious what type of enforcement…