Preneed: A Pandora's Box of Problems
The Illinois Funeral Directors Association is living out its own version of A Christmas Carol, with the Ghost of Yet to Come having painted a fate similar to that of Scrooge.
The court decision reported by the Memorial Business Journal* has all but sealed the fate of the Association. While the attorneys can…
California funeral directors face a September 13th deadline that could have substantial financial consequences, including the repayment of trust distributions.
A July 1st letter sent by the California’s Cemetery & Funeral Bureau to funeral homes in the California Master Trust outlined the regulator’s rejection of the Association responses regarding the Master Trust audit. An impatient…
While the reasons are open to debate, it is common knowledge within the funeral industry that a small percentage of consumers cancel their preneed contracts. Consequently, some funeral directors tend to view their preneed block of business with a degree of certainty. Performance of the contracts, and recognition of the revenues, seems to be just…
In contrast to how the IFDA situation was handled, the California Department of Consumer Affairs has taken a public approach to disclosing its issues with the CFDA’s master trust by posting its website an audit report and the Association’s reply.
The DCA is unhappy with the Association, and the master trust fiduciary, with regard…
In rejecting the $18 million settlement forced upon IFDA members, an Illinois Circuit Court is telling Merrill Lynch Life Agency to dig deeper into its pocket to compensate funeral homes. As reported by the Springfield Journal-Register, the $18 million represents the revenues the insurance broker received from the sale of key man insurance to…
The September edition of the Mortuary Management ran an excerpt from a Funeral Monitor article about the California Master Trust suffering a deficit.
If the story is accurate about the master trust’s shortage, the author’s speculation about the reasons for the deficit omits a possible factor that has existed for years: the 4% administration fee.
As explained…
Last week’s exchange between the State Journal-Register and the Illinois Comptroller’s office underscores just how poorly some regulators (and funeral directors) understand the preneed transaction.
The newspaper’s June 24th editorial included the following statement:
The directors allege they didn’t find out about the audit until fall 2007 when the comptroller revoked the IFDA’s license to…
The battle to reform Illinois’ preneed funeral law was renewed by the Comptroller’s office with the release of his Amendment to Senate Bill 1862. Reform in Illinois will take months, and the final product may differ substantially from the Comptroller’s proposal. However, SB 1862 flags Mr. Hynes’ priorities, and one of those priorities could…
U.S. Senator Roland Burris has been sidestepping questions about his role(s) in the IFDA master trust troubles. While the Senator was a side issue to a March 30th article published by the Springfield Journal Register, the statement provided by his public-relations specialist may signal just how little Mr. Burris understood about his responsibilities to the…
It didn’t take long for an Illinois funeral director to confirm that IFDA members have disagreements with their association leadership.
Several Illinois funeral homes filed a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court on January 28th. The petition, a derivative complaint, seeks remedies and damages on behalf of all Illinois funeral homes that participated in the IFDA master…