Author: Megan Geroux

In the PrePlan office, we strive to ensure working with us is convenient and easy for you and the families you serve. Over the past few years, we’ve streamlined forms and policies, updated resources, and made operational enhancements.

As of April 1, 2026, consumers now have an easy, safe, quick way to make initial deposits when opening preneed trust accounts – electronic payment through ACH transaction.

It’s convenient. Save time and increase deliverability by eliminating the need for paper checks and the postal service. Consumers are familiar with this method of payment and can complete necessary paperwork quickly and easily.

It’s secure. Reduce the potential for fraud and check whitewashing. Thanks to mandatory 3-way matching, consumers’ account information must match the required paperwork before any money is transferred. This ensures the safety and security of consumers’ funds.

It’s automatic. The transfer of funds happens right away, so neither you nor the consumer need to worry or remember to submit payment.

Getting Started

You don’t need to do anything in advance, simply offer electronic payment as an option when meeting with families. When setting up electronic payment, you’ll need to securely email the following:

• Required: a fully executed PrePlan Agreement (dated 2020 or newer)
• Required: a fully executed Initial Deposit Electronic Payment Authorization Form
• Optional:
  • PrePlan Itemization
  • Select Pay Payment Plan Form

PrePlan is committed to offering solutions to optimize operations and increase participant convenience, while keeping the security of funds and compliance with trust laws as our continued top priority. Thank you for your membership and confidence. We look forward to serving you.

Established in 1988 PrePlan is the only New York State-based prefunded funeral trust administrator. Created by NYS funeral directors as a dedicated resource for preneed trust support, PrePlan revolves around funeral service and the strongest consumer protection.

Powerful Relationships

Together with our partners at the New York State Funeral Directors Association, PrePlan has developed productive professional relationships with industry stakeholders. This allows us to be at the table: shaping regulations, introducing and supporting beneficial legislation designed to maintain, advance, and further protect the industry and families you serve while opposing detrimental legislation. With this pulse on legislation and regulation affecting the industry, PrePlan shares compliance and regulatory updates and legislative news in real time – ensuring participants’ funeral services businesses are wholly protected.

What does your trust administrator do to protect funeral service?

Enhancing Your Professional Life

From inception, PrePlan has been and remains committed to protecting and enhancing the professional lives of funeral directors working in New York. As a New York State corporation, PrePlan proudly reinvests 100% of our return directly into the industry and programs designed to support funeral directors. Thanks to our reinvestment, members of the NYSFDA receive valuable benefits:

• access to free educational programs through webinars and in-person events
• governmental affairs outreach
• communication and information sharing through robust websites, regular email communication, social media platforms and more
• compliance guidance and support
• a propriety software management system built and maintained specifically for trust administration
• state of the art IT security platforms to protect consumer account information
• highly experienced and knowledgeable staff

Maybe it’s time to ask your provider what they do with their profit.

Protecting Consumers’ Assets

We say it all the time but it’s worth repeating; ensuring the safety, security and compliance of consumers’ funds has been and continues to be our top priority. Plus, working with PrePlan is accessible and easy, thanks to streamlined forms and policies, updated resources, and operational enhancements. Here’s how we protect and empower participating funeral firms and their families’ assets:

• Funds are 100% government-backed and we consider each investment decision carefully.
• Quarterly audits conducted by an independent firm ensure all investments are fully secure and compliant, checks and balances are in place, and all legal requirements are met.
• Knowledgeable and experienced staff are well-versed in New York State preneed law and Medicaid/SSI compliance issues.

Is your trust administrator committed to following the law to protect you and your families?

We are committed to doing it right, so you don’t have to worry. The Gold Standard. That’s our promise to you.

It’s time to invest in yourself and your business. Connect with Director of Preneed Trust Services, Melissa Sargalis, at melissa@preplan.org to learn more about PrePlan Funeral Trust.

NYSFDA & PrePlan: Partners in Success

As a current NYSFDA member funeral home, your dues cover a variety of benefits, including free monthly webinars, governmental affairs outreach, communication and information sharing, compliance guidance and support, and the opportunity to participate in PrePlan (an exclusive member benefit).

For more than 35 years, PrePlan has severed as the industry leader in preneed trust services. A significant reason for our success is our direct and close tie to the state association. Thanks to the sharing of information and resources, PrePlan staff are knowledgeable and well-versed in preneed trust compliance issues as well as the funeral services industry. We’re also able to stay up-to-date on critical legislative and regulatory issues that directly impact preneed trusts. Over the years, we’ve been able to successfully pass legislation to protect funeral directors as well as defeat harmful legislation. Most recently, the successful completion of the bill to make permanent the law prohibiting “pre-need funeral insurance” in New York State (signed into law by Governor Andrew Cuomo, December 2019). 

Additionally, PrePlan is governed by your peers – a group of Trustees and the FDSS Board of Directors (all NYS licensed funeral directors and members of NYSFDA) help guide our business affairs. They take their role seriously and always utilize the investment tools and guidance available in accordance with the law for the best interest of association members and the families you serve. 

And finally, NYSFDA’s enforceable Code of Ethics, which applies to all members of the association, sets member funeral homes apart. It sends a strong message to consumers that members take their responsibility to serve the public as funeral directors very seriously. As a PrePlan participating NYSFDA member firm, this Code of Ethics demonstrates your commitment to excellence and integrity.

Totally Tubular…PrePlan is 35!

We turned back time… and celebrate the decade PrePlan got started! Throughout this year’s NYSFDA Convention we rocked out to metal bands, tested our 80s knowledge, and toasted 35 years of providing The Gold Standard to New York’s families. Thanks to all who helped celebrate!

Did You Know?

In 1988…

• It was a leap year.
• The Summer Olympics took place in Seoul, South Korea.
• The Winter Olympics took place in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
• The best-selling video game in the U.S. was Ninetendo’s Super Mario Bros. 3.
• The Phantom of the Opera opened on Broadway.
• Adele, Stephen Curry, Russel Wilson, and Emma Stone were just a few celebrities born.
• Bruce Springsteen and Clarence Clemons of the E Street Band, performed at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, in March of 1988

Here’s to 35 Years!

Since 1988 PrePlan Funeral Trust has served as New York’s preeminent pre-funded funeral trust administrator. As we celebrate our 35th year, we thank you for being a part of our history and continued growth.

The Preneed Trust Accountability Act was a top legislative priority for NYSFDA and PrePlan in 2019 and was signed into law on December 12, 2019. The law establishes a set of financial best practices for preneed administrators. All preneed administrators are now required to undergo an annual audit by a New York State licensed CPA to verify their preneed accounts are being maintained and funds are invested in accordance with law.   

PrePlan had undergone this type of annual audit for numerous years prior to this law and will continue this process. The passage of this law continues to be of utmost importance to ensure that New York State funeral directors are aware of the practices of their selected preneed administrator and their dedication to the adherence of accepted financial practices and compliance of laws. 

In addition, the law includes a provision to allow funeral directors to receive a portion of the 75-basis point administrative fee. PrePlan immediately implemented a Patronage Program to recognize our participants for the administrative time required to create and maintain accounts. We’re currently in our 6th year of recognizing our firms with this program.  

The list below indicates the number of points you will receive based on the cumulative dollar value of your preneed funds invested with PrePlan. 

2025 Patronage Program 

• Up to $2.5M = 1 Basis Points Earned
• $2.5-5M = 5 Basis Points Earned
• $5-20M = 7.5 Basis Points Earned
• $20-50M = 10 Basis Points Earned
• $50-100M = 15 Basis Points Earned
• $100-200M = 20 Basis Points Earned
• $200M+ = 25 Basis Points Earned (maximum allowable by law)

Based on the calendar year 2024, PrePlan will determine participants’ average annual quarterly fund balance. Based on that dollar value, participants will earn up to 25 basis points patronage. The patronage will be distributed via check by April 1, 2025.

Reminder: If you opted out of receiving a Patronage check in the past, you will not receive one this year.  If you would like to change your preference or opt out, please contact us at 800.577.3752 or preplan@preplan.org.

We’re proud to support you and your honorable profession for the past 35+ years! Thank you for your trust and confidence. We’re here for you and thanks to our relationship with NYSFDA, will continue to advocate legislatively for you and the families you serve!

When it comes to your consumers’ preneed trust accounts, PrePlan is commited to being 100% compliant with all necessary laws. One of our compliance-related priorities this time of year is management of abandoned and dormant preneed accounts.

Background: In July 2007 NYS Governor Eliot Spitzer signed into law Chapter 279, a measure initiated by NYSFDA to establish a process to treat unused preneed funds. Most financial accounts with no recorded activity for the prior 5 years and/or no valid address are turned over as abandoned property. NYSFDA saw these criteria as troublesome for preneed accounts and sought to prevent the treatment of such accounts to arbitrary time frames. 

What happens/Criteria: At the end of each year, per NYS General Business Law 453, a list is compiled to include all accounts that have been flagged “deceased.” Once identified, PrePlan diligently works on these accounts to determine which funeral home provided services and makes every effort to send the funds to the firm before the need to turn them over as abandoned or dormant. 

Abandoned: Funds in any account where the date of death is more than 3 years will be forwarded one of the following:

• Revocable Account: Office of the New York State Comptroller
• Irrevocable Account: County Department of Social Services where the decedent resided when they died.

Dormant: In addition, funds in any account that has been flagged as a bad address due to the inability of the preneed administrator to obtain a current and correct address for the accountholder for 15 consecutive years and where the accountholder would be 115 years old per the information provided on the original paperwork, will be forwarded to one of the following:

• Revocable Account: Office of the New York State Comptroller, Office of Abandoned Property
• Irrevocable Account: County indigent burial fund where the beneficiary resided when the account was originally established.

Funds from an account deemed abandoned or dormant at year-end will be forwarded to the appropriate entity on or before March 10 of the following year.

We take care of it so you don’t have to. Our knowledgeable and experienced staff serves as your compliance experts, freeing you up to do what you do best – provide compassionate and professional services to your local community. 

In December 2019, the “Preneed Trust Accountability Act” was signed into law. This law requires any entity holding preneed funds – such as banks, credit unions and funeral trusts – to abide by a higher, uniform set of best financial practices. Specifically, these entities have to undergo an annual audit which will provide more financial information to consumers (and funeral homes) about their preneed accounts. Here is a list of requirements:

12. A preneed administrator operating under this section shall conduct an audit of all of its accounts relating to preneed agreements as of the thirty-first of December of each calendar year. The audit shall:
    (a) Be performed by a certified public accountant licensed to practice in New York state;
    (b) Be completed and delivered to the preneed administrator within one hundred twenty days of the end of such calendar year;
    (c) Verify, by way of a representative sample, that the preneed administrator has a signed copy of the agreement for each account;
    (d) Verify, by way of a representative sample, that appropriate income tax  reports have been sent by the preneed administrator to the owner of each account;
    (e) Verify that the investment of all funds for the agreements is in compliance with this section;
    (f) Verify, by an appropriate sampling method, that the earnings on the investments are being properly applied to each account and that the earnings are credited to each account at least monthly;
    (g) Express an opinion that the financial statements of the preneed administrator fairly represent the financial condition of the funds received in all material respects, and that all financial information distributed by the preneed administrator to consumers, funeral homes  or other parties is accurate; and
    (h) Verify that the stated yield credited to the account for that fiscal year, as announced by the preneed administrator, is accurate.