Mow yo’ own mama’s grave
by Mortuary Transport Expert ~ April 25th, 2008. Filed under: Funeral Homes In The News, Gettin' Legal.I’ve been thinking about the pre-need market lately and what can be done to make it a little easier for the consumer to understand and feel confident about. Here’s an example of what happens when the entities selling the pre-arrangements appear to change the rules after the fact. Is there a market for pre-need death services online like prepaid legal?
State to update pre-arranged funeral clients[shal]
Owners of burial and funeral arrangement contracts will receive an update next week on the state’s efforts to resolve problems they’re having with several cemeteries across the state.
Officials from the state Attorney General’s Office, the Secretary of State’s Office and others will hold an informational meeting at 7 p.m. April 29 at Kesler Funeral Home in Baldwyn.
“The lawyer and investigator from the Attorney General’s Office will be there to tell everybody what’s happening with the investigation,” said Ellis Johnson of Wheeler, who has been a driving force in keeping the inquiry moving forward.
Johnson owns a burial plot and pre-arrangement contract with Prentiss Memorial Gardens.
Since last year, the Secretary of State’s Office has received complaints that pre-arrangement contracts are not being honored at Prentiss, Memorial Gardens, Baldwyn; Liberty Memorial Park, Booneville; Pinecrest Memorial Park, Calhoun City; and Sunset Gardens, Laurel, and more recently Jackson Mortuary, Amory.
As recently as last week, Johnson said the man who has been opening and closing graves at Prentiss Memorial Gardens and keeping the cemetery mowed told him that plot owners must now handle mowing themselves.
State Rep. Jerry Turner, R-Baldwyn, helped pass a bill last week that Gov. Haley Barbour signed into law to protect such purchasers in the future by requiring cemetery owners and pre-need sellers to be bonded and to file regular reports to the Secretary of State’s Office.
