The staff for the Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors released the revised preneed renewal reports this week, and those revisions include a few new additional requirements. Those requirements include a seller providing a ‘no tax due’ letter, proof of corporate status and any ‘doing business as’ filings. However, the new requirement
state board of embalmers and funeral directors
Out of Left Field: Missouri’s insurance assignments
Who can honestly say they saw this one coming?
On July 5, 2012, the Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors filed a complaint with the Missouri Administrative Hearing Commission against a Missouri funeral home for alleged violations of Chapter 436, including several transactions that predate Senate Bill No. 1. So, three years after the …
Preneed vs. Preplanning: Missouri’s blurred line
For some Missouri funeral homes, the ‘disagreement’ over the Section 436.405.1.(8) and insurance assignments has been brought to their doorstep. In January, the State Board and their staff debated the issue of whether insurance assignments and beneficiary designations made in favor of a funeral home should constitute a preneed contract. The State Board rejected the staff’s interpretation of…
What to Build: Fences or Bridges?
Every funeral home and cemetery feels the pain of this economy, but that pain runs deeper for Missouri and Illinois funeral directors. Per capita, Missouri funeral homes bore the greater brunt of the NPS collapse. In the same year NPS collapsed, the IFDA master trust was forced to divest its key man insurance policies and…
The On-Site Audit: getting to know your business
Here in the Midwest, the death care industry is just beginning to experience the increase in preneed reporting and oversight. Some funeral directors are already frustrated with the new requirements, and are biding the time to when they can vent towards the preneed regulator.
Over the past 4 years, state agencies in Illinois, Kansas and…
Missouri Preneed Seller Renewal: Trick or Treat?
The licenses required to sell or service preneed in Missouri must be renewed annually, with the deadline for filing the required paperwork falling on October 31st. Technically, these licenses expire on Halloween unless the State Board staff has renewed them by that date. But, it is human nature to procrastinate, and many licensees wait until…
New Missouri Regulations: will this ever stop?
Earlier this week, the Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors posted their agenda for the September 27-29th meetings, which includes 65 pages of regulation proposals or revisions. The Board has probably heard the same complaint that we have: what the industry needs is less regulation, not more. However, regulations can serve a…
Missouri’s desk audit: the first look will take the longest
As discussed in prior posts, the Missouri preneed audit process begins with a notice to the preneed seller for the production of documents and data. After a review is made of the documents, data and the annual reports filed with the State Board, an on-site examination is scheduled with the seller. Most Missouri preneed sellers…
Missouri and the Discipline Post
A few weeks ago, we wrote on the approach being taken by regulators of posting discipline proceedings on their website. The purpose of the posting is to inform consumers of such issues so that they can make additional inquiries. The concept is now a reality for the Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors.
Missouri’s Document Production Request
The examination of a Missouri preneed seller begins with a request that certain documents be submitted to the State Board within 3 weeks. The purpose for the document production is to allow the examiner to perform a desk audit of the seller’s operable documents before an on-site visit is made. From those documents the examiner…