Governor signs ban on Arizona funeral directors taking over dead people’s estates, billing them for burials – By Anne Ryman (Arizona Republic) / March 24 2020
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed a bill Monday that prohibits funeral directors from taking over the estates of dead people and then billing their estates for burial costs.
The legislation comes after an investigation by The Arizona Republic detailed the unusual practice of a funeral-home owner who was taking on the role of executor, or “personal representative,” of people’s estates, and then charging what relatives complained were excessive burial fees that went to his funeral home.
Rep. Shawnna Bolick, R-Phoenix, said she introduced House Bill 2249 as a consumer-protection measure after reading The Republic story, in which relatives complained that the funeral home was delaying burials and charging excessive fees for refrigerating the bodies.
“That loophole has been closed in Arizona,” she said in a statement. “Arizonans can now be certain funeral home’s owners and directors can no longer unjustly profit from any loved one’s death.”
Under Arizona law, it was legal for funeral directors to also act as personal representatives of estates in probate court if no immediate family came forward within 45 days of the person’s death.
Continue to article: https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/legislature/2020/03/24/governor-bans-az-funeral-directors-from-taking-over-dead-peoples-estates-billing-them-for-burials/2905537001/
