Greetings from the SCCFA! We trust 2023 has been good to you, both professionally and personally. 

I want to say hello on behalf of our Board of Directors and take a few minutes to mention some important things to all of you.

We realize as we head fully into the Holiday Season, everyone is busy trying to reach your goals and needs of your job and your businesses for this year. All of us have certain criteria we are trying to attain by year end to make sure our objectives are met, and we are also adapting to the ever-changing environment around us.

As I reflect on my over 41 years in this profession, there are some definite differences between the “old days” vs today’s challenges. Many of us who began a long time ago on the cemetery side of things started out knocking on doors every week for a low-cost form of advertising and getting seated with families for in-home, Preneed presentations. Back then, even some Immediate-Need business might be conducted in a family’s home, at their kitchen table, often in the evenings. Many cemeteries didn’t even require a family to come to the office to finalize an interment, sometimes even opening graves with just a phone call from the funeral home and/or family.   

At the young age of just 22, I was placed in charge of revising that policy at our location. As you can imagine, we were met with some resistance from some funeral directors, and families, too. But now it seems amazing that so many cemeteries waited so long to implement that requirement. 

Which brings up the issue of proper verification of a grave opening or authorization of other business regarding a space or crypt. In attending several different association meetings and speaking with several operators, I’m concerned with locations not always following proper protocols for this oh-so-important part of our job. We are very lucky that there weren’t a whole bunch of wrongful interments from years ago. The most potential legal problems you have are the result of not having a good system in place for ensuring we do open the correct site. As well as allowing someone who is not the actual lot owner to authorize an interment or other transactions. Unbelievably, this still is a practice of some operations.

Why? It’s not complicated... if they are not listed as the Owner, then they can’t authorize an interment or other business regarding Interment Rights. We remind our staff, it’s no different than if they were attempting to change an auto title or other ownership document of any asset owned by another person, unless they are the actual owner. A regular Power of Attorney doesn’t apply either, if that person is now deceased. Only a Durable POA or a Last Will and Testament listing the Executor of the Estate, can allow someone else to authorize an interment. In the absence of those documents, then a majority of the children of the Lot Owner should be required. In the case of a divorce, you cannot act as a judge and decide “who gets what” for arrangements at the cemetery. If the Will or Divorce Decree doesn’t specifically address the new ownership of their cemetery items, then it’s the family’s responsibility to furnish documents to establish a “trail of ownership”. That’s not our job.

I’m covering this subject because we’re still seeing some cemeteries allowing an unauthorized person to sign documents and make decisions about cemetery items. This also applies to a Deed Transfer and even the purchase and placement of a memorial or monument on the grave. “Mom didn’t feel well, so after we left the funeral home, we took her home”. Sound familiar? Sorry, but again, if your name isn’t on the Deed or Certificate of Ownership then you can’t sign to authorize things. You must have a very clear understanding with your local funeral directors about this, so they can help you schedule an appointment with the right family member.

You should also be getting a call from the funeral home and/or family to be included in the discussion about setting the day and time of a service. Almost all cemeteries have it in their Rules and Regs that “the cemetery is the scheduling agent for an interment.” This prevents multiple services arriving at the same time at your facility. 

One more issue along these lines is the rule that most cemeteries have about being able to correct mistakes without any liability. That language should be in your Interment Authorization Form, Contracts and Rules and Regulations. In an Endowment-Care cemetery, the family doesn’t own “real estate”. They own “Interment Rights”, which can be reassigned to a new location in the event their original selection is not available. With decades of existence now for cemeteries, it is a guarantee that at some point an employee has made a mistake in your records and you’ll have spaces which were “double sold”, or a maintenance crew has opened the wrong space in the past. Rarely was this an intentional act by an employee, with no purposeful misleading or harmful actions. It was almost always just a simple mistake by someone. Occasionally a huge rock or tree is now preventing usage of a space shown on your garden map. But these are another potential legal liability for you. This must be dealt with prior to making an interment, as having to inform a family that their loved one now needs to be disinterred and moved to a new location could result in some type of compensation from you to that family, if not a lawsuit, despite the language in the documentation they’ve signed.

Your administrative staff must proof all documentation and immediately alert you of an issue well before performing an interment. Family service counselors need to physically inspect the site well before the family arrives at your office.  A maintenance crew member should also inspect the site as soon as possible to look for possible issues. 

Today’s business atmosphere is different than years ago. People are far more likely to start slinging the word “lawyer” around than in the past. The public is not as reasonable as years ago. While people’s technical skills are off the chart versus just 20-30 years ago, our society’s verbal communication skills have declined greatly. Especially with what you might call “conflict resolution skills”. The ability to calmly and reasonably hash out problems and come to a solution that everyone can be happy about. This also applies to your staff. Not everyone who works for you may be good at handling a difficult conversation with a family. Your best person for tackling those tough situations should be the person meeting to discuss a problem with a family.

Again, having a good system in place for documenting and updating your records, along with verifying the correct site for an interment, is paramount to providing good service to families and preventing costly mistakes for your business. Training is key! Each employee involved must approach this almost from the viewpoint of not trusting what other employees are saying, to provide completely independent verification of that site. 

On the funeral side of things, we’ll be having one of the funeral director members on our Board providing information like this soon, with reminders and examples of issues that funeral homes are dealing with in today’s business environment. With the drastic rise of the cremation rates in almost all markets, all funeral homes are having to be much more detailed and in compliance with who is authorizing a funeral and even more so who is authorizing a cremation. As well as children of someone who prearranged a traditional funeral, who are now attempting to change that to a direct cremation in order to get a refund on the parent’s previously planned funeral.

Plus, the huge problem for all funeral homes of unclaimed cremated remains by so many families. Unfairly to funeral homes, they’ve become a storage facility for those remains, with many states not allowing them to dispose of those even after a certain amount of time and unsuccessful attempts to get a family to take possession of their loved one’s cremated remains. Even though all cemeteries offer cremation interment options, and many funeral directors encourage cremation families to consider permanent placement of those in a cemetery, the majority of those families haven’t given any thought to the burden being placed on a deceased’s survivors with unplaced cremated remains becoming an awkward problem as time goes. We have families coming in every month who cremated a loved one in the past, who now have realized they want somewhere as a final resting place for those remains. Many are survivors of someone who expressed that they wanted their ashes scattered, but the family couldn’t bring themselves to go through with a scattering. As I noted at the beginning, things have changed a lot for all of us since I began my career in 1982!

Finally, I wanted to address the topic of belonging to an association like the SCCFA and your state association as well. Your state association is a critical part of your business success. Are you a member? If not, why? They represent you at your state capital whenever there are legislative issues that arise, which most certainly will occur every so often. Even well intended state legislators have a tendency to overreact and overregulate when a constituent from their voting district is upset about something. They don’t understand details about all the different professions they are charged with overseeing at the state level. Your state Association works on your behalf to educate legislators about our business and works to prevent bad legislation from being passed, usually in the name of consumer protection, which eventually often ends up actually hurting the consumer and costing them more money, as businesses are forced to pass along increased expenses resulting from a bad law to their customers. Regulation is needed, but it needs to be good regulation and oversight, protecting consumers while being fair to businesses. Your state association also provides valuable education and networking opportunities for you, with their annual convention and other gatherings. Not to mention someone nearby you that you can call or visit to assist you with questions or problem solving.

The SCCFA is a regional group, comprised of businesses, employees, and suppliers from a dozen different states, who have a vast storehouse of knowledge and experience to share with you. Many of us with the SCCFA have worked in multiple states, with knowledge of the laws of those states as well as regulations on the national level. Our board and members are available to assist your state association with legislative issues that arise, to help make sure they are fair to families and businesses alike. We are available to attend state conventions or seminars as a guest speaker, and with organizing multi-association conventions to bring together more attendees and exhibitors, providing timely topics on our program, as well as providing the best networking opportunities you’ll ever find! In addition, the SCCFA has always been known as “the Family Reunion” gathering. We select venues and arrange agendas which provide the opportunity for your family to attend with you and enjoy a good time.

Next year is a great example of this. Our 2024 Convention is a Six-Association gathering! Yes, six associations together! The SCCFA, GCA, NCCA, SCCA, CAT and KCA are all meeting at the Westin Resort on Hilton Head Island, SC, July 15-17. The venue is fantastic, ocean front, with a tropical resort atmosphere that makes you feel like you’re in a whole different world! The program features topics and speakers that cover almost all phases of cemetery and funeral home operations. About 60 exhibitors will be set up to visit while there, with time set aside for a golf tournament, cornhole tournament, two receptions, a banquet complete with live musical entertainment, as well as fun family activities during the afternoons. The theme is “Focus on the Family”, both the families we serve and our own families. The cost is very reasonable and represents an investment in the growth of your career and your business! You should register with the association on our link below NOW, and also reserve your lodging using that link below. We already have many who have registered and booked their rooms. So hurry to be a part of this awesome event!

I’m very proud and very honored to be serving as the current President of the SCCFA. We are as strong or stronger as we have ever been, with a great Board and blend of cemeterians, funeral directors, owners, managers, employees, and suppliers who all work toward serving our customers to the best of our abilities. Being an active part of your state association should be a priority for you; then being an SCCFA Member should be your next move. We look forward to having you with us next July!

Tim Smith              

PS: Great advice to follow... ”Stay the course. Don’t overreact. Think long term!” May God bless you this Holiday Season and the families we all serve!

Annual Convention