Let’s say I want to put aside some money to pay for my burial down the road. I go to a funeral home, who puts my money into a fund like the California Master Trust. That cash is supposed to collect interest for a good, long time. But an audit by the California Department of Consumer Affairs found that’s not always happening. Russ Heimerich is with the Department, and he says California Master Trust let investors down.
“They spent money on a convention; they used the money to pay lobbyist fees, which is questionable at best.”
The audit also found that the funeral homes were paid fees by the trust they were never owed, and the trust kept some money it should have given back to the families of the deceased. As for the 27-thousand Californians who still have money in the 70 million dollar fund?
“The value of that trust in the future will be less than it should be.”
Heimerich says the 300 participating funeral homes have until late July to figure out how to set things right. If they don’t, they could be suspended, or shut down.