The current shortage of qualified workers has caught up with the death care industry. Funeral home owners are finding it difficult to fill open positions. Salary demands are rising, and industries competing for death care workers can offer perks that funeral homes find difficult to match. While the death care industry has been notorious for
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The Missouri Preneed Trust acquisition: What were you thinking?
The Missouri Preneed Trust: What were you thinking?
Investment markets are down, and preneed trusts are hurting. But one Missouri preneed trust is probably hurting more than others. When the Missouri Funeral Directors and Embalmers Association cheerfully announced the acquisition of the Missouri Preneed Trust program by its own MFT, we were shocked. The Missouri…
Setting the Record Straight: The Inspection Dispute
MFDEA members like one past president have written to the Governor to commend the Division acting director for having put an end to the State Board’s “photographic surveillance” of funeral homes. This past president of MFDEA stated that instead of actually inspecting the funeral home, the Board inspectors were taking pictures which were then reviewed…
Setting the Record Straight: Derailing Missouri Preneed Reform
In this post we are breaking a rule that we have followed since the startup of the blog: maintaining the anonymity of a source. In our post Derailing Missouri Preneed Reform we referred to our source as having an irrefutable reputation within the industry. Those who follow this blog instantly understood that the statement had…
Being Hung out to Dry: The Pennsylvania Board of Funeral Directors
Federal Judge John Jones III has teed off (again) on the Pennsylvania Board of Funeral Directors. Awarding attorneys fees of more than a million dollars and issuing a permanent injunction against the State Board, Judge Jones rebuked Board members for their failure to show initiative towards a legislative fix to a Truman era problem. And…
What to Build: Fences or Bridges?
Every funeral home and cemetery feels the pain of this economy, but that pain runs deeper for Missouri and Illinois funeral directors. Per capita, Missouri funeral homes bore the greater brunt of the NPS collapse. In the same year NPS collapsed, the IFDA master trust was forced to divest its key man insurance policies and…
Not your typical Christmas wish list: Missouri legislation
Triggered by the NPS collapse, preneed reform rolled out of the Missouri legislature like a tsunami. When the funeral industry was slow to organize and respond to the situation, legislators worked with state officials to imposed sweeping changes. While SB1 does reflect input provided to the State Board by the industry, the law has flaws…
NPS and Taxes
Everyone complains about continuing education, but occasionally the concept is reinforced when a timely program provides needed insight. Such should be the case when the Missouri Funeral Directors and Embalmers Association sponsors a class on the tax consequences of servicing an NPS contract.
Funeral directors need to understand that they do not necessarily incur a tax…