William Stalter is the founder of Stalter Legal Services and the Preneed Resource Company. Bill focuses his law practice on preneed and death care compliance, serving banks, funeral homes, crematories, and cemeteries. He has written multiple published articles
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Guaranteed,Non-guaranteed,Preneed,Prepaid Funeral Contract,Transition DocumentsEarlier this year, the New York Times ran a story that on funeral planning that raised several valid issues and recommendations. We will use the next few blog posts to explore certain issues and recommendations in greater detail. With this post we will start with the article’s discussion of prepaying for a preneed contract, and… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Compliance,Exams/audits,Investments,Reporting,Trust FundedOn 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 seller (that… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Cemeteries,Compliance,Guaranteed,Non-guaranteed,Preneed,PreplanningA local Kansas City television station recently ran a story about a consumer’s complaint that his preneed contract did not cover “surprise fees”. The consumer had purchased the preneed contract from a Kansas City funeral home/cemetery combo where he had also purchased a grave space. One fact regarding the preneed contract that jumped out to… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Guaranteed,Non-guaranteed,Preneed Development,Preneed Shortfalls,Price ProtectionA preneed client recently complained about preneed shortfalls they were experiencing on trust funded contracts. We went back to our 2014 blog post (The Factors Contributing to Preneed Shortfalls: Investment Return and Operator’s Performance Costs) and began an analysis of those factors. Since the ‘culprit’ is usually poor investment returns, we started with a review… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in PreneedIn its Active Supervision Guidelines, the Federal Trade Commission staff discusses how regulatory boards frequently act in an adjudicatory capacity by seeking to impose discipline on a licensee or by seeking to enjoin an unlicensed individual. While such actions may have an anti-competitive effect, those actions will not necessarily expose the board members to personal… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Funeral,PreneedIn this past week’s Memorial Business Journal, the NFDA’s general counsel offered insight on the FTC’s guidelines to state supervision of industry regulatory boards. In a decision that rocked state boards comprised of industry members, the United States Supreme Court affirmed a decision that had held members of the North Carolina Dental Board subject to… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Cemeteries,Cemetery Development,Legislation,Preneed,Preneed Development,Trust FundedIn an unusual move for a death care regulator, the Federal Trade Commission weighed in on the preneed turf war that has erupted between Pennsylvania funeral directors and StoneMor Partners. At the request of the chairman for a Pennsylvania legislative committee, the FTC responded with a detailed letter warning against various bill proposals aimed at… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Compliance,Guaranteed,Insurance Funded,Investments,PreneedFor an industry that has been dependent on interest income, the past 9 years have been tough on the death care industry. Interest rates started to decline 9 years ago, with the bottom hitting in 2008. Zero interest rates forced death care fiduciaries to diversify into equity investments, but trusts have experienced a sideways market… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Associations,Master Trusts,Missouri - SB1,PreneedThe lawsuit brought by the Missouri Funeral Trust against the Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors and CFL Pre-Need includes a number of unique and dubious claims. For example, the lawsuit defines CFL Pre-Need, an insurance company, as a competitor but not funeral home clients that are licensed as a preneed seller. The… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Legislation,Master Trusts,Missouri - SB1,Preneed Shortfalls,Reporting,Trust FundedAt 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… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Master Trusts,Preneed,Trust FundedTwo of the country’s largest association ran master trusts now have pending plans of reorganization. On May 14th, the receiver appointed for the Wisconsin Master Trust filed a Final Report that outlined to a court his proposal for the reorganization of that program. On May 22nd, a hearing was held in a California on the Attorney… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Compliance,Guaranteed,Preneed,Trust FundedWith increasing regularity, preneed consumers are downgrading from traditional funerals to cremation services. To accommodate the consumer, funeral homes often amend the original contract with a downgrade addendum. An addendum is used to avoid a contract cancellation and a new contract where additional state fees might be required. However, downgrade addendum can pose certain problems.… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Administration,Exams/audits,Guaranteed,Non-guaranteed,Preneed,Trust FundedIt is common for a funeral home to offer a discount to a preneed contract purchaser when the sales price is to be paid in full at the time of purchase. However, funeral homes are often inconsistent in how the discount is applied to the preneed contract. We have seen the discount recorded as a… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Exams/audits,Preneed,Trust FundedAn Oklahoma funeral director faces serious prison time over the deposit of preneed funds to his business operating account. The Oklahoma Department of Insurance decided to go to a local prosecutor when a Department audit found the funeral director had routinely failed to deposit consumer funds to the preneed trust required by state law. The… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Investments,Master Trusts,Trust FundedFor Fed watchers, last week’s announcement signaled a subtle warning that interest rates will likely begin rising by the Summer of 2015. Since September of 2012, Federal Reserve statements have warned that interest rates would remain unchanged for “a considerable time” after the nation’s economic recovery strengthened. The reference to “a considerable time” was dropped… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Insurance Funded,NPS/Lincoln,Preneed Tax,Trust Funded,UncategorizedThe NPS civil trial is scheduled for trial in February 2015, and the SDR’s strategy took a twist when her litigation team filed a motion to dismiss Doug Cassity as a defendant in the lawsuit. The dismissal probably signals the SDR’s intent to use Mr. Cassity’s testimony. Now convinced that Mr. Cassity does not have… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Non-guaranteed,Preneed,Preplanning,UncategorizedOne message that can be taken from the FAMIC’s Talk of a Lifetime campaign is that funeral directors need to re-think their prearrangement procedures. Perhaps too much emphasis has been given to preneed, and not enough to the planning process. Prearrangement marketing and procedures have often been crafted by the funeral home’s preneed funding agent. … Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Guaranteed,Non-guaranteed,Preneed,Preneed Development,Preplanning,UncategorizedThe Memorial Business Journal recently reported on findings from the NFDA’s 2014 Consumer Awareness and Preferences Study. Some of the findings may not come as much of a surprise to funeral directors, such as consumer demands are changing. But, findings regarding how many respondents have made efforts to prearrange, and prepay, for funerals were surprising. … Continue Reading
