Idaho funeral decisions, cremation and prepaid-plan rights

When a person has not made a prearranged funeral plan, or the plan does not clearly cover a decision, Idaho law sets the order of people who control the disposition of the remains. First is a person the decedent designated in a signed and acknowledged written document, or on a service member’s DD Form 93. Then come an agent under a durable power of attorney for health care, unless it clearly denies that right; an agent under a durable power of attorney that clearly grants it; the decedent’s guardian, or conservator if no guardian was acting; the competent surviving spouse; a majority of the competent adult children; the parents; the court-appointed personal representative; the person nominated in the will; and then the next of kin entitled to inherit. Ask the funeral home whom it has recorded as having this right. [1]

In Idaho, the first written report a mortician files does not serve as a permit to cremate. Before cremation, the physician, physician assistant, advanced practice registered nurse or coroner responsible for the death certificate must authorize final disposition, and the coroner must also give additional authorization. The Board of Morticians’ rule says no body is to be cremated unless the county coroner where the death occurred gives written authorization. A body held longer than 24 hours before burial, cremation or other disposition must be embalmed or refrigerated at 36 degrees Fahrenheit or less. Ask whether the coroner’s authorization has been received, and whether the body is being refrigerated or embalmed while you wait. [2][3][4]

Idaho’s prepaid contract rules apply to all establishments that sell prepaid funeral or cemetery merchandise or services. A contract of life insurance entered into by an insurance company is excluded from the definition of a prepaid sale, so the trust rules below do not describe an insurance-funded plan. Since July 1, 2021, a licensed funeral establishment has needed a certificate of authority to sell prepaid contracts. Ask whether your plan is a trust-funded contract or a life insurance policy. [6][7][8]

Within 10 business days of receipt, the seller must deposit in trust 85% of the amounts received for funeral or cemetery merchandise or services generally. For a marker, monument or secondary container, 50% goes into trust, and the seller may apply the first half of that to its purchase cost, leaving 25% of the total in trust; nothing need be held for such an item the seller has fully bought and stores for the purchaser at its own expense in a bonded warehouse. The deposit and cancellation rules do not apply to rights of interment or entombment in spaces that already exist when the first payment is made, or to monuments and markers delivered and installed upon payment. Ask how much of each payment will go into trust. [9][6]

Under a revocable contract, the purchaser may cancel at any time before the beneficiary’s death and is entitled to a refund of all payments made, plus accrued interest, less reasonable administrative expenses and taxes incurred in operating the trust. Trust interest may pay reasonable trustee fees and expenses, and the Board’s rule limits the fee for maintaining pre-need trust accounts to 10% of the annual earned interest income. An irrevocable contract cannot be cancelled by the purchaser or the beneficiary. Ask the seller to show in writing how a refund would be calculated under your contract. [10][9][5]