It has been almost 2 years to the date when a $391 million dollar judgment was entered against PNC Bank, as the successor to Allegiant Bank.   Allegiant Bank was one of the last trustees to administer National Prearranged Services’ preneed trusts in Missouri.  PNC Bank appealed that judgment, and a decision is expected any day

There seems to be some confusion in Missouri over the permissible contractual relationships among the preneed seller, the preneed trustee and the independent investment advisor. Prior to the collapse of NPS, and the subsequent amendment of Missouri’s preneed law, Chapter 436 allowed the preneed seller to incorporate provisions in its preneed trust agreement to instruct

The Special Deputy Receiver for National Prearranged Services recently filed a Bill of Costs with the Federal trial court.  The Bill of Costs seeks to recover copy charges of more than $500,000 from a former NPS trustee.  Those costs do not include attorneys’ fees.  Litigation can be very costly.

Missouri’s preneed regulators are keenly aware

Final arguments were heard in the NPS civil trial this past Friday.  With the SDR having presented evidence through the prior Friday, the defendant trustees presented their case in less than a week.  This may reflect that the NPS trustees had viewed their duties as having been defined by Chapter 436 as relatively low.  As

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (the OCC) supervises the fiduciary activities of national chartered banks, and in February, updated the guidelines used by its examiners.  The “Personal Fiduciary Activities” booklet includes a section on pre-acceptance due diligence that fiduciaries should conduct before agreeing to serve as trustee for an account.  

The National Prearranged Services civil trial is scheduled to begin this week, and trial briefs have been filed with the Court.  The briefs outline the arguments that each party plans to prove during the course of the trial.  It is our understanding that the Special Deputy Receiver has settled with all defendant trustees except Allegiant