March 1999
The Director - Features
"Caveat Emptor" Unnecessary
The nation's preneed statues provide a borad array of consumer protection
Forty-nine states have enacted laws and/or administrative regulations governing the preneed sale of funeral goods and services with the primary purpose of consumer protection. These states have adopted an incredible variety of preneed regulatory schemes and, like snowflakes, no two are alike. Because of the complexity of these statutes, preneed was chosen as the first subject to be tackled in NFDA's State Law Project, which began in 1998 and aims to compile and analyze funeral laws and administrative rules from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. NFDA anticipates that this analysis will provide a detailed reference for any state considering modifications to its preneed statute.
"Caveat Emptor" Unnecessary—The nation's preneed statutes provide a broad array of consumer protection, written by T. Scott Gilligan, NFDA¹s general counsel, provides a summary of some of the more prominent consumer-protection features offered by preneed statutes. It includes information on trusting, guaranty funds, bonding of preneed sellers, cooling-off periods, deposit requirements, contract disclosures, licensing, notification, revocation, portability, record keeping and reports and solicitation prohibitions.
Gilligan is a partner with the law firm of Kepley, Gilligan & Eyrich in Cincinnati, OH. He represents NFDA in matters dealing with the Federal Trade Commission's Funeral Rule.
