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 Exams/audits,Missouri - SB1,UncategorizedOur first recommendation to the Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors is that they assume, and maintain, control over the preneed examination procedures. The exam procedures implemented two years ago were never submitted to the Board for review and approval. Accordingly, the examination procedures handbook should remind the staff that any change made… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Exams/audits,Missouri - SB1With an action that caught some by surprise, the Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors voted to suspend future preneed examinations and accept recommendations on a new process. We have made several posts on the faults of the Missouri examination process, and now commend the Board on taking a bold action. The Missouri… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Exams/audits,Missouri - SB1,RecordkeepingWhen 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 funeral home… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Exams/audits,Missouri - SB1The Missouri funeral industry has haggled with the State Board for two years over preneed record requirements. But on April 25th, the State Board scrapped the staff’s adequate record proposal, and instead, adopted a brief definition of ‘seller records’. The State Board’s approach will afford funeral homes more flexibility in documenting the receipt of consumer… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Price Protection,UncategorizedIt only took 15 months, but the Missouri State Board finally approved a rule to clarify what fees a preneed seller may charge when offering a guaranteed price contract to consumers. Low investment returns from insurance and trusts forced many funeral homes to stop offering guaranteed price contracts to consumers. Funeral homes’ cost increases were… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Missouri - SB1,UncategorizedAt its April 25th meeting, the Missouri State Board unwound two controversial staff proposals: mandatory consumer disclosures for preneed contracts and the formation of an insurance funded contract. With 20 CSR 2120-3.205 , the Board staff sought to require Missouri preneed sellers to provide consumers with a two page list of disclosures. Those disclosures proved… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Exams/audits,Missouri - SB1The April 25th meeting of the Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors marked an important transition where industry members assumed control over the protection of consumers’ preneed funds. After the first round of financial examinations, the Board’s procedures for the second round were defined by the Board’s staff, and never submitted to the… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Compliance,Exams/audits,Missouri - SB1Missouri funeral homes are frustrated with the State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors. The second round of preneed examinations has begun, and the Board’s staff is citing sellers for “new” contract form violations on “old” contracts. Examiners are reviewing all outstanding contracts, including those covered in the seller’s first examination, and now citing the… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Missouri - SB1Over the past couple of years, the Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors implemented a number of policy changes that affected the funeral industry. New requirements were imposed on licensing and reporting, and complaints were filed against licensees that failed to comply with those new requirements. It is not uncommon for a state… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Compliance,Exams/audits,Missouri - SB1Ten years after the collapse of NPS, the Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors has a confidence problem with licensees and legislators. Licensees see a regulator that is obsessed with DBAs, renewal reports, and exams that focus on contract provisions. Legislators see a regulator that will not fulfill the SB1 mandate to protect… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Exams/audits,Missouri - SB1,Recordkeeping,Reporting,UncategorizedPursuant 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 am… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Exams/audits,Recordkeeping,UncategorizedThe last time the Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors took up the issue of preneed seller record keeping requirements, the staff proposal emphasized a contract ledger approach. The proposal sought to require a contract record that reflected the amount and date of each payment received and the corresponding dates and amounts deposited… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Exams/audits,Missouri - SB1For the first round of Missouri preneed examinations, the State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors had no choice but to jump into preneed sellers’ records and files. Hundreds of funeral home had been selling preneed for decades without supervision or record keeping requirements. So, the first exam objective was to look at everything and… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Exams/audits,RecordkeepingTwo years ago, the Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors met in Independence to discuss their staff’s recommendations for seller record keeping requirements and the scope of preneed examinations. As the minutes somewhat reflect, the staff proposals were met with strong public opposition. (This blog documented those issues in prior posts that are listed… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Exams/audits,Missouri - SB1,UncategorizedIn their last meeting, the members of the Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors took a small, but important pivot in the preneed examination process. The State Board approved a recommendation made by the Financial Examination Committee that the Committee review each examination report and prepare the letter that accompanies the report to… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Administration,Compliance,Master Trusts,Missouri - SB1,RecordkeepingThis time last year, the hot topic before the Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors was the staff’s proposed regulation to define what constitutes adequate records of a preneed seller. The proposal was revised more than once during 2016, but it was eventually tabled by the Board before any consensus could be… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Missouri - SB1After a 8 month sabbatical, the Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors will be back at work soon. Shortly after taking office in January, Governor Eric Greitens withdrew two interim appointments to the State Board, leaving it without a quorum to take formal actions. For the last eight months, the State Board has… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Compliance,Missouri - SB1,UncategorizedDespite lacking sufficient members to take official actions, the Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors met last week to discuss Executive Order 17-03. As we reported back in January (Missouri Rule Rollback), the Order represents a significant undertaking by the State Board. Seven months later, the State Board has less than a year… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Compliance,Exams/audits,Missouri - SB1,Recordkeeping,UncategorizedIn paragraphs 53 through 71 of the MFT Complaint, the State Board sets out certain duties that only a licensed Missouri preneed seller may perform. The Complaint asserts that these seller duties are either being performed by the funeral homes that contract to be ‘providers’ with the MFT, or by Eagle Bank as trustee for… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Administration,Investments,Recordkeeping,ReportingIn 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… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Exams/audits,Missouri - SB1,RecordkeepingIn Paragraphs 35 through 38 of the Complaint filed against the Missouri Funeral Trust, the State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors seek discipline against MFT for its inability to produce copies of contracts sold by a funeral home that transferred its trust to MFT. The original seller funeral home apparently amended several of its… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Exams/audits,Legislation,Missouri - SB1The legislation that would have converted the Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors from an industry board to a consumer board did not get to a vote on the floor, but got further than most expected. Seeking to make the State Board more responsive to preneed consumers, Rep. McGaugh’s efforts got an unexpected… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Compliance,Exams/audits,Missouri - SB1,RecordkeepingParagraph 26c of the Complaint filed by the Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors alleges that the Missouri Funeral Trust fails to maintain “records regarding the insurance policies for insurance funded preneed contracts….” We suspect this claim may be directed at a practice where the MFT trustee has accommodated funeral homes that have… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Compliance,Exams/audits,Missouri - SB1,RecordkeepingParagraph 26b of the Complaint filed by the Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors alleges that the Missouri Funeral Trust fails to maintain “records that explain why the principal held in trust exceeds the face value of the preneed contract associated with that account…” We anticipate that this claim is considering the contract… Continue Reading
