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.