William Stalter is the founder of Stalter Legal Services and the Preneed Resource Company. Bill focuses his law practice on preneed and death care compliance, serving banks, funeral homes, crematories, and cemeteries. He has written multiple published articles
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Exams/audits,Missouri - SB1,UncategorizedOur first recommendation to the Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors is that they assume, and maintain, control over the preneed examination procedures. The exam procedures implemented two years ago were never submitted to the Board for review and approval. Accordingly, the examination procedures handbook should remind the staff that any change made… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Exams/audits,Missouri - SB1With an action that caught some by surprise, the Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors voted to suspend future preneed examinations and accept recommendations on a new process. We have made several posts on the faults of the Missouri examination process, and now commend the Board on taking a bold action. The Missouri… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Exams/audits,Missouri - SB1To begin reform of its preneed exam process, the Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors is seeking input from the industry by this Friday, June 8th. Specifically, the State Board is requesting comments to the Exam Procedures Handbook prepared by its staff. We have made edits to that handbook, and will provide more… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Price Protection,UncategorizedIt only took 15 months, but the Missouri State Board finally approved a rule to clarify what fees a preneed seller may charge when offering a guaranteed price contract to consumers. Low investment returns from insurance and trusts forced many funeral homes to stop offering guaranteed price contracts to consumers. Funeral homes’ cost increases were… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Missouri - SB1Another welcomed change made by the State Board on April 25th was to approve an extension on the filing of annual reports. Missouri has one of the shortest periods (60 days) for filing a preneed annual report. Neighboring states not only granted more time (Illinois 75 days, Iowa 105 days and Nebraska 150 days), they… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Missouri - SB1,UncategorizedAt its April 25th meeting, the Missouri State Board unwound two controversial staff proposals: mandatory consumer disclosures for preneed contracts and the formation of an insurance funded contract. With 20 CSR 2120-3.205 , the Board staff sought to require Missouri preneed sellers to provide consumers with a two page list of disclosures. Those disclosures proved… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Exams/audits,Missouri - SB1The April 25th meeting of the Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors marked an important transition where industry members assumed control over the protection of consumers’ preneed funds. After the first round of financial examinations, the Board’s procedures for the second round were defined by the Board’s staff, and never submitted to the… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Compliance,Exams/audits,Missouri - SB1Ten years after the collapse of NPS, the Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors has a confidence problem with licensees and legislators. Licensees see a regulator that is obsessed with DBAs, renewal reports, and exams that focus on contract provisions. Legislators see a regulator that will not fulfill the SB1 mandate to protect… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Compliance,Exams/audits,Missouri - SB1The latest rumor being spread about the Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors is that the Board members met in a closed executive session without staff or attorneys to discuss the need for change in the legal representation of the Board. According to the rumor, the decision was made to send the Board… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Associations,Exams/audits,Master Trusts,Missouri - SB1,RecordkeepingIn preceding posts, we have outlined recommendations to the Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors regarding the preneed examination process and record keeping requirements. While our correspondence was not included on the Board’s December 13th agenda, the Board entertained a motion to amend the agenda to include our correspondence on the afternoon open… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Exams/audits,Missouri - SB1For the first round of Missouri preneed examinations, the State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors had no choice but to jump into preneed sellers’ records and files. Hundreds of funeral home had been selling preneed for decades without supervision or record keeping requirements. So, the first exam objective was to look at everything and… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Exams/audits,RecordkeepingTwo years ago, the Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors met in Independence to discuss their staff’s recommendations for seller record keeping requirements and the scope of preneed examinations. As the minutes somewhat reflect, the staff proposals were met with strong public opposition. (This blog documented those issues in prior posts that are listed… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Exams/audits,Missouri - SB1,UncategorizedIn their last meeting, the members of the Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors took a small, but important pivot in the preneed examination process. The State Board approved a recommendation made by the Financial Examination Committee that the Committee review each examination report and prepare the letter that accompanies the report to… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Exams/audits,Legislation,Missouri - SB1The legislation that would have converted the Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors from an industry board to a consumer board did not get to a vote on the floor, but got further than most expected. Seeking to make the State Board more responsive to preneed consumers, Rep. McGaugh’s efforts got an unexpected… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Preneed Shortfalls,Price ProtectionFor consumers who need installments to pay for their preneed arrangement, funeral directors report that the $100 monthly payment is the comfort threshold for most individuals. For a widow planning her own funeral, the $100 monthly payment will require an installment term of six years or longer. If the widow needs to also cover an… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Compliance,Exams/audits,RecordkeepingThis post will look at the first allegation made by the Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors against the Missouri Funeral Trust: MFT does not create or maintain any records of its activities as a preneed seller. In subsequent paragraphs of the Complaint, the State Board will also challenge the adequacy of those… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Preplanning,Right of Sepulcher,Transition DocumentsFuneral and burial preplanning should be a part of every estate plan, but some web pages promoting estate planning can be misleading or impractical. The estate planning page sponsored by Lawyers.com suggests that funeral arrangement preferences can be incorporated into a will or health care power of attorney to alleviate the financial and emotional burdens… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Churches/Ritual,Consumer Advocates,PreplanningNPR’s second story on the funeral industry suggests that preplanning a funeral will typically require visits to multiple funeral homes. NPR led their story with a consumer attorney sharing his frustrations with getting price information from funeral homes near his father. To the attorney’s surprise, many of the funeral homes did not include general price… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Consumer Advocates,PreplanningThe take away from the recent NPR stories on the funeral industry is that consumers should preplan their funerals to control costs, and if the objective is to compare funeral homes and their prices then plan to visit each prospective funeral home. The first story reports on a widow who spent more than $7,000 on… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Exams/audits,Missouri - SB1A bill has been filed in the Missouri General Assembly that proposes to divide the State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors membership evenly between the public and industry representatives. That Board currently consists of 5 industry members and 1 public member. The bill sponsor, Representative Joe Don McGaugh, is from a district that includes… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Compliance,Exams/audits,RecordkeepingThe final section of the Missouri preneed seller record rule will likely draw criticism from the industry: The standards set forth in this rule are stated only as minimum standards. Each seller may maintain any records in addition to those set forth in this rule. In addition, if the board determines that it is unable… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Compliance,Exams/audits,RecordkeepingThe next section of the Missouri preneed records rule provides the funeral home latitude to maintain records in either a hard paper copy or an electronic format, but so long as the records are provided to the State Board in a timely manner: All records required to be maintained by a seller may be maintained… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Compliance,Exams/audits,RecordkeepingMissouri’s preneed seller records proposal would require preneed sellers to retain all communications that relate to their preneed contracts: Any written (including electronic) communications between the seller and any preneed agent, provider, trustee, investment advisor, insurance company, purchaser and/or beneficiary of the preneed contract and any other person related to preneed contracts and the funding… Continue Reading
By Bill Stalter on Posted in Compliance,Exams/audits,RecordkeepingWe anticipate that the following section of the Missouri record keeping proposal is directed at the situation where consumers assign an existing insurance policy to the funeral home: All information obtained or possessed by the seller related to any insurance policy used to fund any preneed contract that may include, but not be limited to,… Continue Reading
