Earlier this year, the dispute between a Missouri cemetery and an independent monument dealer made local news. The cemetery had given notice to several lot owners that memorial benches they had placed on graves were going to be removed. While the cemetery was permitting certain types of benches to remain, other benches proved difficult for
rules
Measure twice, cut once: Missouri funeral rule proposals
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Missouri - SB1
As discussed in a prior post, the Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors is now four years removed from Senate Bill No. 1 and the exigent circumstances that authorized emergency rules. The State Board must now address several issues through the formal rulemaking process. Understanding that the process may take a year or…
Formal Rulemaking: Missouri’s test of patience
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Missouri - SB1, Preneed
At its December meeting, Missouri’s State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors will seek input from licensees and consumers regarding several rulemaking proposals. The proposals were published on the Board’s website in November, with a request that comments be provided to the Board by December 2nd. This represents a prelude to the formal rulemaking process…
SB1 and Missouri’s Show Me Year
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Funeral, Missouri - SB1
The anxiety over Missouri’s new preneed law will temporarily peak this Friday with the passing of the due dates for annual reports and license applications. To give the industry a breather, and to assess SB1’s flaws, the Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors reached an informal agreement on October 20th to table any…
Missouri’s Price Tag for Oversight: $36
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Missouri - SB1
Missouri will look to a combination of licensing fees from preneed sellers, providers and agents to fund a portion of the projected costs of preneed oversight under SB1. But, most of SB1’s enforcement price will be funded by the $36 to be charged for each preneed contract sold. The ‘per contract’ fee is not new…
Rules are Rules
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Cemeteries
Rules and regulations provide an important framework for the operation and maintenance of a cemetery. However, cemeteries should retain the flexibility to revise their rules to adapt to changes in operations, business and customs. It’s difficult to understand why a cemetery would risk complaints and the prospect of losing business by rigidly adhering to a set…
My way, or the highway: reasonable cemetery rules
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Cemeteries
Like homeowner’s covenants, ownership of an interment right in a burial space comes subject to the cemetery’s published rules. Cemetery rules are used to regulate such issues as the planting of trees and shrubs, establishing uniform requirements for markers, the removal of decorations, and a transfer of the interment right. Consequently, it’s common for states…