Fiduciary Partners, the corporate fiduciary for the Wisconsin and Illinois master trusts, broke its silence this week with a statement to the Funeral Service Insider. The statement was made in response to criticisms previously reported by FSI, and reflects the receiver and fiduciary working together to get their “message” out and avoid the kind of
oversight
The staff, a so-so law, but no budget: the state of Illinois Preneed Oversight
By Bill Stalter on
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released its latest report on the state of state regulation of the death care industry. As it did in 2003, the GAO selected a handful of states to review in depth, and Illinois was one of those states for 2011 report. The Illinois review is set out …
Informing the Consumer (and the Industry)
By Bill Stalter on
The need for better preneed oversight is obvious, but regulators often lack resources and expertise. The state of Connecticut made headlines recently for the decision to make budget cuts by de-regulating the death care industry*. Connecticut funeral directors challenged the decision, and the state issued a ‘clarification’ and withdrew the plan. (That’s correct, the…
But who is going to bury Momma?
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Cemeteries
When a cemetery operator and the regulator get crossways with each other, the threat to close the cemetery is often countered with the question of whether the regulator is going to step in and perform the burials. And when the regulator sticks to his/her guns, the results are often similar to that seen in Dunkirk…
Cemetery Preneed Oversight: the bucket factor
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Cemeteries, Preneed
Recent cemetery failures are causing regulators from Illinois, Missouri and Kansas to take a closer look at the oversight provided for preneed sales of vaults, markers, urns and burial services.
Cemetery preneed is a different animal for that offered by funeral homes. As Mr. Newcomer suggested to a reporter, the big difference between the…
Delaware’s Cemetery Oversight Legislation – how many cooks are in the kitchen
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Cemeteries, Legislation
One of our first blog posts was about Delaware’s legislative effort to tackle the state’s growing problems with cemetery oversight. After a recent public hearing before the legislative study committee, it doesn’t sound like the committee is any closer to a consensus on what the state’s solution should be. Sen. Margaret Rose Henry may be getting a…
Cemetery Oversight – Delaware Legislation
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Cemeteries
For the second time in 7 years, the Delaware legislature is taking up the issue of cemetery oversight. As with most death care legislation, Delaware’s Cemetery Study Committee faces two hurdles: finding answers for aging cemeteries that lack revenues for maintenance, and reconciling the conflicting goals of cemeterians, funeral homes, monument vendors, local governments and the public. …