While most state funeral director associations sponsor a master preneed trust for their members, we cannot find a single state cemetery association that sponsors a master care fund trust for its members. With attendance at cemetery association conventions declining, we
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Preneed: A Pandora's Box of Problems
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The Plight of Cemetery Care Funds: Is the Fiduciary to Blame?
By Bill Stalter
Cemetery owners have two choices for their care fund trust: the local bank or the national bank that solicits death care trusts.
When the local bank is used, the care fund is typically administered like an estate planning trust. The…
The Plight of Cemetery Care Funds: Who’s to Blame?
By Bill Stalter
The care fund trust is a source of frustration for most cemetery operators. Rather than offsetting maintenance expenses, the care fund is a state-mandated money pit. A percentage of grave sales must be deposited to trust with little or no…
Cemeteries and the Rosebrough Monument Rules: Reviving an old Restraint of Trade Trick
By Bill Stalter
Sources from several states recently contacted this office about a new policy implemented by a national cemetery corporation. That cemetery corporation began requiring a “Memorial Survey, Layout, Inspection, and Assessment Fee” for monuments that are to be purchased from third…
Defining the Right of Sepulcher with a POA: An Express Power that Can Not be Implied
By Bill Stalter
A Missouri funeral director recently called for advice. He received a first call for an individual that died without a spouse or children. The deceased had a surviving parent and several siblings, but a distant relative was asserting the right…
NFDA Consumer Survey: An Uptick in Facebook Traffic and Consumer Planning
By Bill Stalter
The Memorial Business Journal (the NFDA’s weekly newsletter) has been drilling down into the NFDA’s 2024 Consumer Awareness and Preferences Survey. With the FTC’s Funeral Rule amendment looming, the July 4th MBJ edition was of particular interest to us. The…
Confusion over Who Controls the Funeral: Stale Advice
By Bill Stalter
We recently found this post on funeral matters explaining the authorities of executors, guardians and power of attorney agents to control funeral arrangements. The post is limiting its advice to New Jersey laws, but a casual reader could lose sight…
Mom’s Dementia and the empty house: Using the power of attorney to move on
By Bill Stalter
One of the most difficult challenges for a financial POA agent is the parent’s empty house. Dementia has robbed the parent of the life skills needed to continue living at home and the health care POA agent has already made…
The Final Chapter of NPS: a Messy Ending
By Bill Stalter
After almost 16 years, the NPS receivership is coming to a close. But the final chapter will mark a messy end for funeral homes that have consumers with an orphaned NPS contract and those funeral homes that did not heed…
Avoiding Downgrades: Coupling the Preneed Contract with a Power of Attorney
By Bill Stalter
The traditional funeral and burial remains the preference of many individuals. Understanding that this type of arrangement will be more expensive, many of those individuals purchase a preneed contract to spare their survivors a financial burden. But what happens when…