 Home  following associations: National Funeral Directors Missouri Funeral Directors |
National Prearranged Services Scandal News articles and videos We Need Your HelpPlease download the Form Letter below and submit to the agencies and parties provided. Form Letter | Agency/Party Contact List You may have seen several articles in the news in the past few weeks regarding your pre-need funeral arrangement. As examples, see KC Star, May 3, 2008 “Details of Prepaid Funeral Operation Emerge in Charges!” by Rick Alm, and St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 11, 2008 “Big Dream Buried by Big Questions” by Todd C. Frankel. Undoubtedly, you will be hearing more in the coming weeks concerning your pre-need funeral plan. National Prearranged Services, 10 South Brentwood, P.O. Box 50416, St. Louis, MO 63105, (314) 726-6706 has had its business suspended in Missouri and apparently in other states, and Lincoln Memorial Life Insurance, mentioned in the articles, is apparently in a Texas receivership. Brennan Bank and Trust, 10624 Manchester Road, Suite 101, Ellisville, MO 63011, (314) 446-3104 is the noted trustee of trust accounts. When we purchased D.W. Newcomers, and Webb-Freer Funeral Home in Blue Springs, MO and Heritage Funeral Home in Parkville, MO and formed Meyers Funeral Chapels (incorporated as M-G Funeral Care, Inc.), the monies in your trust account were held by a third party (National Prearranged Services). Per State Law Chapter 436, National Prearranged Services is required to hold a minimum of 80% of the contract amount in trust. Based on the news noted above, your pre-need contracts appear not to be funded, in direct violation of Missouri Revised Chapter 436. You should consider filing complaints with the National Prearranged Services, and Bremen Bank and Trust Co., with the State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors, and the Attorney Generals office, amongst others. Of course, ask for the whereabouts of your monies and how these various government entities allowed your monies to apparently be wrongfully taken on their watch. Meyers Funeral Chapels in good faith accepted the pre-need contracts, being reassured by state regulations and paperwork that was completed at the time of closing that these funds were guarded and protected by the laws governing pre-need contracts in the State of Missouri. We now must rely on the State authorities and the court system to resolve this issue. This promises to be a slow process, possibly without recovery of all or any of your monies. We have retained legal counsel that hopefully will offer some protection of your interest in this matter. It is our understanding that the Missouri Division of Insurance has been aware of financial inconsistencies, and notified the Attorney Generals Office in November of 2007 or before, prior to us purchasing Webb-Freer Funeral Home and the Heritage Funeral Home. The investigation of various Missouri Departments continues. Our business knew nothing of the problem with the missing monies until approximately April, 2008. We will continue to serve our families to the best of our ability, as long as we are financially able. In other words, despite the fact that there appears to be very little, if any, monies currently available to pay for our services, we want to be able to provide the continued first-class service that Meyers Funeral Chapels are known for—but we need your help to do this! By contacting the agencies and parties mentioned above, and on the contact list below, you might very well help resolve these issues towards the end of recovering some of the contract monies you have paid and apparently had wrongfully taken. For weeks, I have devoted most of my time, and that of my legal team to protecting my customers’ interests. Currently, we are diligently working to re-write Missouri Revised Chapter #436. Current regulations aren’t strong enough to protect your investments. I want to make it impossible for this to happen ever again. I am working to make that statute more customer secure with regulations that will prevent the likelihood of this happening again. Your confidence in the Meyers family and Meyers Funeral Chapels is my only goal for at-need and pre-need alike! Sincerely, Todd DeMint, Managing Partner Please download the Form Letter below and submit to the agencies and parties provided. |
