Funeral and burial preplanning should be a part of every estate plan, but some web pages promoting estate planning can be misleading or impractical. The estate planning page sponsored by Lawyers.com suggests that funeral arrangement preferences can be incorporated into a will or health care power of attorney to alleviate the financial and emotional burdens
burial
Churches: Conversation Sabbath
By Bill Stalter on
Churches from different denominations are observing “Conservation Sabbath” from November 11th through the 20th. In 2010, a faith-related initiative titled the “The Conversation Project” was initiated by journalist Ellen Goodman. The Conversation Project is dedicated to helping people talk about their wishes for end-of-life care. Their website states:…
Accepting Final Expense Policies: More Than an Accommodation
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Funeral, Preplanning
Many funeral homes have an informal practice of accepting small insurance policies from individuals who want to know their funeral expense will be taken care of at the time of death. Often, the individual may not be comfortable discussing their funeral preferences with family, and trust the funeral director to apply the insurance proceeds appropriately.
Individual Funeral Trusts: Are the costs too high?
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Consumer Advocates, Preneed
The Missouri law governing means testing for public assistance (RSMo. Section 214.010) was amended this past August to allow an individual to set up an ‘irrevocable funeral trust account’ and exclude $9,999 of funds for funeral and burial expenses. This legislation was sought by a funeral director that wanted to offer families an…
Green Gardens: an option for the city cemetery?
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Cemeteries
In its past two newsletters, my local chapter of the Funeral Consumer Alliance has reported on the difficulties in finding cemeteries that permit natural burials. In the Spring newsletter, the FCA of Greater KC reported on how the Catholic Cemeteries of Northeast Kansas was reconsidering natural burials at one of its six cemeteries. In…
Private Burial Grounds: better plan ahead
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Cemeteries
The Internet has provided consumer advocates a valuable platform for educating the public with ‘how to’ death care information. But, for the most part, that ‘how to’ information has been confined to the funeral half of the equation. A recent Mother Earth News article provided a detailed description of the issues faced by the author…
The death care operator’s contributions to the cremation trend: immediate payment
By Bill Stalter on
To provide a prospective of the cost on one’s final arrangements, consumer groups advise the public that the cost of a funeral could be the third most expensive purchase made during their lifetime (behind the purchases of a house and a car). In doing so, the consumer group often sites the average funeral cost figures…
Recession and Preneed
By Bill Stalter on
The “R” word is back again. We’re only three years removed from the housing bubble burst, but a sense of normalcy seemed to be returning to the death care industry. It wasn’t necessarily a return to the old ways, not with the increase in cremations and regulations. But, many operators were coming to grips with…
Comptroller: It’s Not My Call
By Bill Stalter on
For a brief period, the Illinois Comptroller posted a notice that sidestepped the inquiries made by funeral directors about the application of their Merrill Lynch settlements. The OIC website has since be revised.
One of the inquiries to the OIC may have involved whether the settlement funds could be applied to the litigation costs for…
Cemetery Associations: Where’s the manual?
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Cemeteries
Who do you turn to when grass isn’t being cut, or the grave marker falls over? Or, who can approve the transfer of the ownership of my mother’s grave space?
Ultimately, the answer depends on who owns the cemetery. But, determining who owns the cemetery can often prove confusing to both the public and the…