In the new era of Zoom meetings, the Federal Trade Commission is holding a “public workshop” on September 7th to get further input on Funeral Rule changes that would require funeral homes to post their price lists on line.   The workshop will be televised, and interested parties can watch by using this hyperlink.   Several…

A recent Guardian article offers excellent advice to caregivers for individuals with dementia.  The author, Cynthia Dearborn, shared her experiences about caring for a father with vascular dementia.  Cynthia described how her father’s short-term memory became severely impaired, along with his judgment and reasoning skills.  I am having a similar experience with a Transition Plans’…

We find the AgingCare website to be a good source information for end of life planning.  The website includes a forum for readers to post questions and offer their experiences.  However, readers need to be careful when the forum is used to seek legal help on end of life issues.  One such topic thread began…

One of the weaknesses of Chapter 436, Missouri’s preneed law, is that it provides the State Board few enforcement powers beyond disciplining the preneed seller’s license.  There are plenty of examples of preneed sellers obstructing the State Board’s efforts to obtain preneed records.  At least one resorted to litigation as a delay tactic.  The prospect…

With this post we will examine the new “Preneed Audit Fund” that SB32 proposes to create.  Missouri funeral homes are already quite familiar with the state contract fee that was authorized in 2009 by Senate Bill No. 1.  Per that law, the State Board began charging a fee on each preneed contract sold.  That contract…

With our next few posts we will dive deeper into SB32, the Missouri preneed legislation intended to provide the State Board a new audit direction and some new enforcement tools.  Our first issue will be the change in course on preneed audits. 

The bill would amend section 436.470 by adding the following new section:

3. …

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 whereby the State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors would be required to notify the…