Death Care Compliance Law

• NPS’ Anticlimactic Conclusion: the Eighth Circuit Decision
  On August 30, 2021, the legal saga of National Prearranged Services came to a rather anticlimactic conclusion.  In a relatively short decision, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Judge Richard Webber’s July 2019 judgment that awarded $102,135,393.07 damages against PNC Bank, a successor to the NPS preneed trusts.  The final damages award is a... […]
  Bill Stalter
• DIY Funeral Trusts: harder than it seems
  Since the onset of Covid, the death care industry has experienced an uptick in preneed sales.  As witnessed recently on the Bankrate website, the financial planning industry has taken notice.  Bankrate is a website that provides comparisons of various financial products, and recently posted an article titled “The pros and cons of funeral trusts”.  The... […]
  Bill Stalter
• Does Your Cemetery Need a Friend: Independent Maintenance Associations
  Search the internet for “cemetery” and “friends of” and you will find a number of independent maintenance associations.  We’re not referring to Facebook groups that organize volunteer events for an abandoned cemetery, but rather we want to highlight those formal organizations established to provide continuing financial assistance to an active cemetery. As a cemetery nears... […]
  Bill Stalter
• Missouri Funeral Home Inspections and Pictures: You Were Warned!
  A festering dispute between Missouri’s State Funeral Board and funeral directors association came to a head in a public conference call today.    The State Board scheduled the meeting in response to  its parent agency (the Division of Professional Registration) blocking the Board’s hiring of an investigator.  The Board held the meeting to discuss what actions... […]
  Bill Stalter
• State Funeral Regulators: A Need for Consumer Education
  Two consumer groups recently issued failing grades to funeral regulators from 33 states.  Taking the position that state funeral regulators have a duty to serve both professionals and consumers, The Funeral Consumer Alliance and the Consumer Federation of America worked together in evaluating each regulator’s website on the following criteria: The inclusion of a prominent... […]
  Bill Stalter
• Diversification, the Unitrust Election and the Power to Adjust: Reviving Cemetery Care Funds
  We believe three fiduciary powers are crucial to reviving cemetery care funds: investment diversification, unitrust elections and the power to adjust.  It has been more than 12 years since we first posted about the need to repair cemetery care funds (Cemetery Endowed Care Funds and the Fixed Income Investment).  That post touched on all three... […]
  Bill Stalter
• Cemeteries and Lost Cause Monuments: Not a Solution to the Problem
  In a recent Washington Post article, supporters of a Lost Cause monument unsuccessfully argued to have a Confederate statue moved from a county courthouse steps to a local cemetery.  The article sets out some of the counter-challenge arguments we described in our prior post.  But eventually the small community of Isle of Wright rejected a... […]
  Bill Stalter
• Cemeteries and Lost Cause Monuments: The Counter-Challenge
  While the greater public sentiment has turned against statues honoring the Confederacy, cemetery operators should anticipate a counter-challenge to the removal of a Lost Cause monument.  Support for the Lost Cause monument can be just as fervent as the calls for its removal.  With emotions running high in both directions, the removal of the Lost... […]
  Bill Stalter
• Cemetery Regulations and the Lost Cause Monument: An Offensive Structure
  If a racial justice challenge is made against a Lost Cause monument, the cemetery’s regulations typically vest authority in the cemetery to remove monuments deemed offensive.   Through their rules and regulations, cemeteries reserve the authority to deem what is, or is not, offensive.  The following were taken from cemetery websites found through a Google search... […]
  Bill Stalter
• Racial Justice and Your Cemetery: The Lost Cause Monument
  Cemeteries that contain a Lost Cause monument are the most susceptible to a racial justice challenge.  For purposes of our posts, a Lost Cause monument is a Confederate statue or obelisk erected between 1890 and 1920.  As discussed in this attached article, Confederate memorial societies actively erected Lost Cause monuments during that period, with obelisks... […]
  Bill Stalter