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Committee clears bill letting funeral directors take up to 15% administrative fee on fully funded pre‑need trusts
Summary
The committee advanced SB 226 to allow funeral directors to take a 15% administrative fee once a pre‑need burial trust is fully funded; sponsor said the bill does not affect insurance‑regulated funeral policies and industry representatives offered technical context.
Senator Greg Elkins presented Senate Bill 226, which would permit funeral directors to take up to a 15% administrative fee once a pre‑need funeral trust is fully funded.
"Once that is fully funded, the funeral director can then take his 15% fee," Elkins said, describing how a $10,000 funeral fully funded at purchase could allow a director to take $1,500 while the remainder stays in the interest‑bearing trust for funeral expenses and any remainder payable to the estate.
Elkins noted Kentucky is "one of the few states" that does not currently allow this administrative fee, and that the bill would not affect alternative pre‑need arrangements that are structured as insurance products regulated by the Department of Insurance.
Sydney Fogle, representing the Funeral Directors Association of Kentucky, attended the committee to provide sector perspective. The committee recorded a motion and voice second, and the clerk later recorded SB 226 as passing the committee with a favorable report (recorded as 8‑0 in the committee report). The committee did not record amendments or further fiscal detail in the hearing transcript.
The bill sets a maximum administrative fee (15%) on fully funded pre‑need trust contracts; the committee did not record additional consumer‑protection language, statutory cross‑references, or a fiscal note in the transcript. The sponsor characterized pre‑need trusts as a funding mechanism regulated by the Attorney General's office, distinct from insurance products.
