Tennessee Funeral Board closes or sanctions multiple license complaints, increases several civil penalties

The Tennessee Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers on Jan. 14 considered a slate of complaints arising from routine inspections and consumer reports dated from 2021 through 2024 and took a mix of closures, warnings, monetary penalties and referrals to local prosecutors.

Legal counsel presented each complaint and the board opened the floor for discussion before voting on counsel’s recommendations. Several cases concerned employees or managers performing duties while their funeral director or embalmer licenses or the establishment license had lapsed; the board generally moved to impose civil penalties in those matters and to keep records of letters or warnings when appropriate.

Why it matters: the board’s decisions set enforcement precedents for how missed renewals, consumer-preneed disputes and alleged unlicensed practice are handled statewide and affect how funeral establishments and licensed practitioners manage compliance and consumer disclosures.

What the board decided

- Several complaints alleging practice during lapsed licensure resulted in increased fines from staff recommendations. In one establishment case (inspection Sept. 18, 2024) the board increased the recommended civil penalty from $500 to $750 after members said higher fines could deter repeat lapses. The board also imposed fines on the individual practitioners tied to those lapses (one $250 penalty in a separate motion for the individual who signed two contracts while lapsed). The board justified some increases as consistency with multiple recent similar cases.

- A complaint about employees mislabelled on an establishment website was closed with a letter of warning…