Start a Preneed and Cemetery Trust Services Provider

1. 1

   Understand preneed and perpetual-care money

   Preneed is money families pay in advance for a funeral, which must be safeguarded so it is there when the death occurs. Cemetery perpetual-care (or endowment-care) funds hold money to maintain the grounds forever. Both are regulated pools that must be held in trust or through insurance under state law. Understand exactly what these funds are and why the law protects them before building anything.

2. 2

   Get the licensing this financial business requires

   Preneed funding is regulated as trust and/or insurance depending on the state and product, requiring the appropriate financial, trust, or insurance licensing and often minimum capital and bonding. This is a licensed financial-services business, not an informal one. Determine the exact licenses your product and states require, because operating without them is a serious violation of consumer-protection law.

3. 3

   Build compliant, consumer-protective products

   Design preneed trust or insurance products that protect families' money, comply with state preneed statutes (funding percentages, refundability, portability, and reporting), and give funeral homes a compliant way to sell and administer prepaid arrangements. Because this money belongs to vulnerable, often elderly consumers, consumer protection and transparency must be built into the product, not bolted on.

4. 4

   Serve funeral homes and cemeteries as partners

   Your clients are funeral homes selling preneed arrangements and cemeteries administering perpetual-care funds, both of which need a trustworthy, compliant financial partner and administration. Provide the trust or insurance backing, the record-keeping, the state-required reporting, and the administration that keeps them compliant. Reliability and clean compliance are the entire value you offer these institutions.

5. 5

   Run rigorous administration and reporting

   Preneed and perpetual-care funds require meticulous ongoing administration: tracking each contract, investing prudently, honoring refunds and transfers, and filing the state-required reports. Errors or mismanagement here harm grieving families and draw regulatory action. Build disciplined administration and transparent reporting as the core of the business, because trust, in every sense, is what you are selling.

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