Earlier this month, as you can read in this article from NBC Connecticut, the legislature of Connecticut passed their state budget which included the “Act Concerning Unlawful Funeral Service Practices”.  The state appropriated $1 million that is intended to pay back the victims of a funeral home that is alleged to have stolen preneed funeral funds going back as far as 2009.

Victims of the lost preneed funds will be able to claim up to $10,000 “for any one funeral service contract” according to the article.

The law also creates a working group that will “begin to examine how this could be avoided in the future“.  Again, according to the NBC Connecticut article, Connecticut Representative Tammy Nuccio made this comment, “We’re going to be looking at a Florida model, which looks at putting a $5 charge on any of these insurance plans that are sold in the future, or how funeral home directors have to file their license, maybe putting a small fee on them to kind of continue to fund this.”

One issue that is popping up as these funds are getting ready to be distributed is that many people who were the owners of these policies may now be in nursing homes and may be receiving Medical Assistance aid to fund nursing home care.  Simply getting up to $10,000 in a cash payment could very possibly make them ineligible for that aid.  Representative Nuccio said that the state is “examining whether it is possible to transfer the funding to a funeral home of the client’s choice on their behalf, rather than paying it directly to the clients.”

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  First of all, I salute the Connecticut legislature and their effort to make victims of this alleged fraud and or theft or embezzlement whole.  However, the reason for doing so is a sad case for funeral service — a licensed funeral director allegedly stealing the money in the funds for his own benefit.

I can’t think of anything worse for hard working funeral directors and business owners than waking up and seeing a headline in a newspaper that says something to the effect, “State to offer financial assistance to people who had pre-paid funeral funds stolen”.

It’s simply “bad publicity” for our profession.  Virtually every funeral director that I know works overtime to take care of families who are grieving.  Doing that sometimes stressful and difficult work and then waking up to this type of publicity about our profession is simply a “gut-punch” to the stomach that is hard to take.

More news from the world of Death Care:

• From mushroom caskets to coral cremations, these eco-friendly burials are gaining popularity.  GoodGoodGood
• In “The Life We Leave” human composting and grief from an Auburn funeral home.  Radio broadcast.  KUOW – NPR affiliate (WA)
• When it comes to funeral homes:  Keep your documents in safe keeping.  Montgomery County News (TX)

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