The Tennessee Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers on Dec. 9 accepted legal staff recommendations across a slate of consumer-protection cases, approving civil penalties, consent orders, closures and letters of warning stemming from routine inspections and investigations.

Legal counsel presented summaries and recommended outcomes for 19 matters, after which the board voted on each by roll call. Penalties approved included a $250 civil penalty for an establishment whose license expired and was late-renewed (Complaint 2025054481), $500 penalties for unlicensed practice instances (2025056141; 2025056151), and $500 or $750 penalties for pricing, registration and licensing lapses (2025056201; 2025056331; 2025057821; 2025063451). One case involving preneed sales agent lapses (2025056271) drew a $750 penalty and an explicit requirement that legal staff verify that nine affected preneed contracts were rewritten by a properly registered sales agent.

A preneed audit (Complaint 2025062871) and a long-running investigation involving handling and refrigeration of a decedent (Complaint 2024062531) generated extended discussion and separate votes; those two matters are described in detail in separate reports. For the preneed audit the board assessed a $1,500 civil penalty. For the refrigeration/religious-customs matter the board voted to issue a letter of warning tied to professional-conduct rule 0660-11-0.05(j) (respect for dead human bodies), after counsel noted Tennessee law does not specify a required refrigeration timeframe.

Other outcomes included closure of a complaint alleging a satellite location (2025045441) after investigators found no evidence of remains or funeral business at the site, and a letter of warning where a funeral home representative signed a cemetery disclaimer that the board determined transferred an informational duty to the funeral home (2025060221). In every instance where counsel recommended a consent order or civil penalty, a board member moved to accept the recommendation and the motion passed by roll call.

The executive director then reported licensure and disciplinary statistics for the period Oct. 10Dec. 5, 2025 and invited stakeholder outreach regarding potential legislation affecting the board. The board accepted the executive director's report, elected Wendell Naylor president and Randy Nash vice president for 2026, appointed Don Haynes continuing education liaison, noted there were no public commenters for this meeting, and adjourned. The next meeting is scheduled for Jan. 13, 2026, in Nashville.