It would seem that the Missouri Legislature has grown impatient with the funeral industry’s efforts to regulate preneed. New legislation, Senate Bill No. 32, would establish a two tier approach to preneed oversight. This law would create a threshold
Death Care Compliance Law
Preneed: A Pandora's Box of Problems
Latest from Death Care Compliance Law - Page 2
Missouri Funeral Legislation: Lowering the Bar
By Bill Stalter
The current shortage of qualified workers has caught up with the death care industry. Funeral home owners are finding it difficult to fill open positions. Salary demands are rising, and industries competing for death care workers can offer perks that…
Funeral Rule Revisions: Last Chance for Comments
By Bill Stalter
Most of industry leaders, including the NFDA, seem resigned to the reality that the Funeral Rule will be amended to require the posting of price lists on funeral home websites in some form or fashion. But the FTC extension of…
Funeral Rule Revisions: Some Closing Thoughts
By Bill Stalter
When the FTC announced its routine review of the Funeral Rule in 2020, the Funeral Consumer Alliance and about half the country’s state attorney generals responded with complaints about online advertising by the funeral industry. The criticism of funeral home…
Funeral Rule Revisions: Minority Communities
By Bill Stalter
The last section of the Funeral Rule notice (Issues 37-40) raises questions whether there are funeral provider practices that disproportionately affect minority communities. Again, we are not quite sure the intent of the FTC when raising these questions. Concerns have…
Funeral Rule Readability: What Makes for a Good GPL?
By Bill Stalter
The next-to-last section of the Funeral Rule notice (Issues 32-36) deals with what the FTC calls Price List Readability. This seemed to us as a very nebulous phrase, and so we searched “Price List Readability” in the context of…
Funeral Rule’s Embalming Disclosure: When Required by State Law
By Bill Stalter
Issues 28 through 31 of the FTC Funeral Rule notice concern the embalming disclosure. Consumer advocates are pressing to have the Funeral Rule be more specific about when state law does or does not require embalming. For states that require…
The Funeral Rule Changes: Alternate Forms of Disposition
By Bill Stalter
Issues 23 through 27 of the FTC Notice to amend the Funeral Rule raise questions concerning the new alternative forms of disposition: alkaline hydrolysis and natural organic reduction. For the most part, consumer advocates have embraced these new forms of…
Funeral Rule Revisions: Reduced Basic Fees
By Bill Stalter
The intent behind Issue No. 22 of the FTC Notice to revise the Funeral Rule has us a little perplexed. Funeral providers may charge a lower basic services fee for direct cremations and immediate burials. Issue 22 seems to be…
Funeral Rule Revisions: Incidental Costs Disclosure
By Bill Stalter
For this post we are focused on Issues 18 through 21of the FTC’s Notice to revise the Funeral Rule. With these issues the FTC is responding to consumer advocates assertions that the GPL does not adequately disclose incidental costs…