Master Trusts

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The MFT did not catch a break with the court assigned to its lawsuit against the Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors and Catholic Fraternal Life.   The hearing scheduled for September 28th was continued for another four weeks, and in the meantime, the parties continue to file evidentiary discovery requests.  The Association’s…

One strength of the state association master trust is that it can provide the ‘critical mass’ required for economies of scale to reduce trust management costs.  As the state master trust grows in size, the association can better negotiate asset management arrangements.  However, the reality has been very different for these programs.  The reorganization of…

On July 27th, a Missouri court will consider a motion filed by the Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors to be dismissed from the lawsuit filed by the Missouri Funeral Trust.  One of the allegations made by the Missouri Funeral Trust was that confidential information obtained by a state auditor regarding the program’s…

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…

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…

According to court filings, the reorganization plans for the Wisconsin Master Trust and California Master Trust each seek to eliminate ‘de facto trustee’ relationships that allowed the respective associations’ executives to ‘misuse, misspend, and mismanage millions of dollars’ of trust funds, and to direct funds towards inappropriate and unsuitable investments that served the association’s, rather…

In his final report to the court, the Wisconsin Master Trust receiver proposed a new trust agreement that is intended to provide “transparency, accountability, oversight and prudence”.   Similarly, the California Attorney General seeks to provide transparency through express reporting requirements included in the trust agreement proposed to the court presiding over the California Master…