A recent news report titled “Broken Trust” served to fan the emotions of Illinois residents who purchased a preneed contract from the Illinois Funeral Directors Association. The facts involve a 103 year old lady who purchased the contract 16 years ago, and experienced a 32% drop in the contract’s value in one year.
Preplanning
When is the Spend Down preneed?
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Preneed, Preplanning
A “Spend Down” is the transaction where a person seeking public assistance transfers money or insurance to a funeral home to avoid having the “asset” count as a resource. It is a commonly held perception that the Spend Down accounts for many preneed contract purchases. But should all Spend Downs trigger the state preneed law…
Setting Up Small Funeral Homes To Fail: Joint Accounts
By Bill Stalter on
Like most states’ preneed laws, Missouri’s Chapter 436 has always contemplated a depository accounts for the small funeral operator who provides preneed as an accommodation. Many funeral homes do not sell enough preneed to warrant the expense and hassle of either a trust or an insurance license. Chapter 436 allows the funeral director to place…
Picking Up The Tab For Death Care: Municipalities and Counties
By Bill Stalter on
Taxpayers, through their local governments, have always borne some of the cost of death care. Taxes go toward the maintenance of abandoned cemeteries and the final disposition of the indigent. But as the New York Times reports, the economy is causing more families to abandon the care of their dead to local governments. While many…
Trust Funded Preneed and Finance Charges
By Bill Stalter on
The funeral director’s decision about how to fund his preneed is influenced by the state’s trusting requirement, investment returns, administrative convenience and the volume of preneed business. Essentially, there are three methods of funding preneed: the depository account, the master trust and the insurance policy.
The funeral director’s use of the depository account predates all…
Would consumers purchase a non-guaranteed contract?
By Bill Stalter on
Regulators and preneed sellers squared off recently over the subject of who owns the preneed trust fund: the funeral home or the consumer. Hearings to reform Missouri’s preneed law hit a wall when the issues of trusting requirements, income accrual and portability was taken up by a review committee comprised of regulators, industry representatives and consumers.
In a debate…
NPS throws in the towel
By Bill Stalter on
The Fork in the Road: personalization vs religious rituals
By Bill Stalter on
Two recent newspaper articles help to underscore the distinct directions the funeral ritual seems headed.
The Kansas City Star reported on how more families are opting for personalization over formal funeral rituals. As the article indicates, personalization often requires the funeral director to spend more time with the family planning a memorial that is…
Iowa Personal Preference Legislation – Whose Funeral is it?
By Bill Stalter on
The Iowa had not one, but two personal preference bills pending before its Legislature for the 2007/08 term: SF 473 and HF 2088. The Senate version, SF 473, was backed by Iowa’s attorneys, and the House version, HF 2088, was backed by the Iowa Funeral Directors Association.
What caught my attention about these bills…
Non-guaranteed Preneed – The Hurdles
By Bill Stalter on
Death Care trade publications such as the Funeral Service Insider and the FuneralWire advocate that funeral homes revisit the non-guaranteed preneed contract. I agree that funeral homes should reconsider the non-guaranteed preneed contract, but for reasons different from those expressed by other authors.
The non-guaranteed preneed contract affords flexibility and portability to the individual who wants to do more…