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Jane Irwin Brown of Centerville wanted a simple cremation — a brief viewing of her remains for her family, then off to the crematory. No embalming, calling hours, casket, funeral or burial needed.
Wanting to plan ahead but too ill to make the arrangements herself, nephew David Irwin did it for her at Routsong Funeral Home in Kettering.
Armed with the funeral home's general price list and a pre-need funeral contract, a Routsong "family services counselor" met with Irwin, crafted a $4,000 arrangement that included a cremation casket, urn and other goods and services, and the deal was done.
Whether the deal followed the letter of the law, however, is the subject of an Ohio Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors investigation that was prompted by an inquiry from the Dayton Daily News.
That's because the Routsong staffer is a life insurance agent, not a licensed funeral director.
Ohio law and a 2001 opinion from the Ohio Attorney General's Office state only licensed funeral directors can solicit, sell, negotiate and arrange funeral services. That includes prepaid, or "pre-need," funeral contracts negotiated by insurance agents who are affiliated with or employed by funeral homes.
But despite the law, the so-called practice of unlicensed funeral directing is "widespread," said state funeral board inspector Chuck Wisby, echoing claims of licensed funeral directors across the state.
"It is what it is, it's contract fraud," said Cleveland funeral director Gregg Zamborsky, who has complained about the practice to the state funeral board, attorney general's office and the Ohio Inspector General.
Zamborsky and fellow critics say the practice, a violation of the Ohio Consumer Sales Practice Act and a fourthdegree felony, puts consumers — and their wallets — at risk.
"These people aren't 'counselors,' they're commissioned sales hacks, that's all it is," said Joshua Slocum, executive director of the Funeral Consumers Alliance, a national, nonprofit watchdog group based in South Burlington, Vt.
"The problem with unlicensed people selling prepaid funerals is, one, they're usually working on a commission," Slocum said. "When your bread and butter to put on your dinner table is dependent on how many products you sell, that's going to be your primary concern.
"No. 2, these folks are generally woefully ignorant of federal and state funeral law. They don't understand the (Federal Trade Commission's) Funeral Rule, they often don't present the price list the way they're supposed to, and they make unrealistic promises to consumers."
In the Brown case, for instance, David Irwin said he asked if he could provide his own container for his aunt's ashes, which she wanted scattered.
Irwin said the funeral home staffer told him, "No, you have to have an approved urn."
Routsong denies that accusation.
Irwin ultimately bought a "gray minimum scattering urn" for $89, not knowing there's no such thing as "approved" urn under Ohio's funeral laws.
A shoebox, plastic bag or large coffee can will suffice. Plus, crematories already place cremains in a plastic box for a nominal charge.
Irwin said overall, the funeral home "did a good job," but he's bothered by the "approved urn" statement and the added expense.
He said he didn't know the staffer wasn't a funeral director until much later, and that he didn't meet a licensed funeral director at Routsong until his aunt died April 7.
Another side
Routsong owner Thomas Routsong said life insurance agents are involved in only part of the funeral planning. At his funeral home, a licensed funeral director plans every funeral and oversees the process. There is nothing illegal or improper about that, he said.
"If you want to guarantee that funeral, you have to have a licensed funeral director sign off on that and that is legal," Routsong said. "There are different prearrangement contracts, and any licensed insurance agent can do a final expense product."
That's true, according to the attorney general's 2001 opinion, but not when the agent is affiliated with the funeral home and not a licensed funeral director.
Dave Tackett, board chairman of the Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science, supports the opinion.
"If they are actually going out in the name of funeral homes selling funeral services, that's crossing the line," even if they call it "estimated final expenses," Tackett said.
"Now the question (funeral directors) ask is, 'Who's being harmed by this?' " Tackett said. "The point is we have a statute and you're supposed to follow it."
But the statute's not clear to many.
In fact, even state funeral board President Ross C. DeJohn Sr. staffs an insurance agent for pre-need sales at his Cleveland-area funeral home.
"All they're selling is charges and merchandise," the 14-year board veteran said.
It was the funeral board that requested the 2001 attorney general opinion, but DeJohn said the issue is still unresolved.
"I'm not going to debate that with you," DeJohn said. "That's a question that has to be ironed out and is being reviewed (by the funeral board)."
'Gray area'
DeJohn, Routsong and other funeral directors say there's a "gray area" in the law that leads to varying interpretations of what is proper when it comes to selling pre-need plans.
Are the insurance agents simply selling insurance, for instance, or are they selling funeral services?
Funeral board members say they're working on legislation to clarify that distinction.
"We've got to get that spelled out," board member Robert Shank said during an April board meeting.
Wisby, the inspector, said the most common scenario he finds is that insurance agents affiliated with a funeral home meet with a family to arrange the funeral plan and contract, then have a licensed funeral director sign off on the contract.
"Probably a majority of the times the funeral director has not seen the family," Wisby told the funeral board last month.
Such a scenario amounts to "funeral directing," according to the attorney general's opinion. The opinion also states, "In light of the plain language of (the law), a licensed funeral director is prohibited from delegating the task of selling pre-need funeral contracts for funeral services to unlicensed persons."
In March, the board fined three funeral homes $2,500 each for the practice, including Rogers Funeral Home in Trotwood and New Lebanon. Dean Rogers, owner and funeral director at Rogers Funeral Home, said he hasn't employed the insurance agent or anyone else in this role since 2003. He handles all pre-need contracts himself.
The agent involved in the Rogers' violation now works for Newcomer Funeral Home. Newcomer funeral director and Kettering location manager Brenda Byrd said the agent "just sells merchandise, which is not illegal … like caskets and flowers."
Kindred Funeral Home in Englewood also staffs an insurance agent who isn't a licensed funeral director.
Funeral director Bill Kindred said his "family service coordinator" is more of an "ambassador" for the funeral home, talking to community groups, answering questions about pre-need and arranging funding for funerals.
"When a family service coordinator goes out and visits someone, or a preneed counselor visits someone, they're helping a family make arrangements for what the cost would be that would be associated with a funeral," Kindred said.
Dan Tobias of Tobias Funeral Home said he formerly used unlicensed personnel to sell pre-need contracts, but no longer.
"I think its better off to talk to someone who is a licensed funeral director because they have expertise in that area," Tobias said.
'Distinct' line
While some funeral directors speak of a gray area, at least one insurance company that does pre-need business in Ohio says the state law is clear.
"When the funeral contract is being completed, it should be done by a licensed funeral director. That's what we call the funeral transaction," said Gerry Kraus, vice president of compliance for the Des Moines, Iowa-based Homesteaders Life Insurance Company, a major insurer of pre-need funeral plans in Ohio.
"The insurance part we see as separate and in Ohio that line is very distinct."
Kraus said his company is careful to make sure its agents understand the law "so our people don't cross the line and make headlines."
"If we have a funeral home that wants to use nonlicensed personnel (insurance agents who aren't licensed funeral directors), we tell them they have to work with documents other than funeral contracts," he said.
Kraus said it's appropriate for agents to present several funeral home price lists to a client and draw up an insurance policy to fund the estimated cost of a funeral plan.
But they can't describe the funeral goods and services or discuss how they would be provided, he said.
Call for resignations
Zamborsky, the Cleveland funeral director, said the practice not only puts consumers at risk for misleading sales and botched funeral plans, it threatens the integrity of the funeral profession as well and exposes funeral homes to "tremendous" liability.
Funeral directors have bachelor's degrees and continuing education requirements to keep them on top of their profession, he said.
But outside of a few fines, Zamborsky said the state funeral board has done nothing to stop the practice. That's why in March he called for the entire funeral board and its executive director to resign.
Ann Cunningham, the funeral board's executive director, declined to comment on Zamborsky's charges, as well as on any pending investigations. As far as a statewide crackdown on unlicensed funeral directors, she said there's little her office of seven can do.
"We don't have the money, we don't have the staff," Cunningham said.
The office, with just two inspectors, oversees 1,200 funeral homes and more than 3,000 funeral directors and embalmers across Ohio.
'Raise the level'
Routsong said he doesn't think it's necessary for pre-need staffers to be licensed funeral directors, too.
They are of "two different mentalities," he said, and not all funeral directors have the talent to solicit pre-need funerals.
"Not only that, the inventory of funeral directors that are out there is very slim because we don't have a lot of people going into our industry at this time," he said. "It's very tough to find very good funeral directors and embalmers, much less have funeral directors that are good at prearrangement."
Still, Routsong would like to see tougher standards for insurance agents who sell pre-need plans.
He has asked the state funeral board to consider a "pre-need licensing law" that would include educational requirements and ethical guidelines for those who engage in the practice.
"Why not raise the level of your profession if you believe in what you're doing?" he said.