NPS/Lincoln

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On August 30, 2021, the legal saga of National Prearranged Services came to a rather anticlimactic conclusion.  In a relatively short decision, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Judge Richard Webber’s July 2019 judgment that awarded $102,135,393.07 damages against PNC Bank, a successor to the NPS preneed trusts.  The final damages award is a…

Jo Ann Howard & Associates, P.C., the receiver of National Prearranged Services, recently sent out a notice to funeral home providers that suggests to us that a settlement with PNC Bank may be in the offering.  The “Notice to Funeral Homes” advises that funeral homes will have until June 1st to provide documentation…

We had hoped that the Trial Court’s Finding of Facts would shed some light on how a Missouri preneed trust holding life insurance would have income to distribute.  Despite being invested primarily in life insurance policies, Allegiant Bank made monthly income distributions to NPS.  The Trial Court made several findings on how Allegiant Bank failed…

The Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors and the Board’s staff are engaged in an awkward exercise of establishing audit policies for the state’s preneed industry. The staff, employees of the Division of Professional Registration, must take the lead in making recommendations to the Board. The Board then must approve the recommendations, or…

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.  …