funeral

A now-defunct West Virginia funeral home has to pay $224,000 to consumers in refunds plus interest as part of a settlement worked out with the state for bilking customers for prepaid funeral services, according to state Attorney General Darrell McGraw. Former funeral director T.R. Stevens Jr....

A Missouri man pleaded guilty to stealing money from people who thought they were saving for their funerals. Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster said Thomas Brandtonies Jr., is supposed to pay back the $123, 273 he stole from consumers. Brandtonies, who operated the Underwood-Brandtonies...

Earlier this week, Walmart (WMT) took its first steps into the funeral business. On its website, the retailer now offers 15 caskets and over 130 urns and cremains containers. Priced between $895 and $2,899, the caskets are distributed through the Star Legacy Funeral Network, can be delivered within...

While feelings are mixed on whether or not the U.S. is recovering or still at risk are mixed, at least we can be reassured by the reliability of death and taxes. The latter, of course, is being made more certain by IRS efforts to catch tax-dodgers, while the former needs no help. Unfortunately, the...

As Michael Jackson's family, friends, and fans say their final goodbyes today, the King of Pop is leaving the spotlight with the same extravagance that once characterized his presence on the public stage. Over a million and a half people registered for a chance at one of the 17,500 free tickets to...

I've heard of some crazy get-rich-quick schemes, but this one is way out there. Two women in Los Angeles were charged with staging fake funerals to collect about $1 million of life insurance and other payments. They allegedly bought fake life insurance policies and then held sham burials or...

Death is hard enough to deal with without the added insult of being taken advantage of by a funeral home. The Federal Trade Commission recently sent undercover inspectors into 104 funeral homes in seven states and just released a report that found that one in four (26) had significant violations of...

A few months ago, I wrote a series of posts on budget funerals, noting that options such as cremation, natural funerals and burial at sea could save a grieving family a lot of money. At the time, my main interest was showing that there are options outside the realm of expensive, traditional...

A few weeks ago, I suggested some ways to save money on caskets or by using alternative burial methods. I was impressed by the response to these posts. Many people weren't too excited by the idea of being shot into space or buried at sea, but were very interested in finding ways to pay less for a...