A handful of funeral homes in Canada have been accused of mishandling funds. Are prepaid funerals still a safe bet?

Last summer, customers of a funeral home in Chilliwack, B.C., saw an alarming notice from the province’s consumer protection regulator. After pro-actively spending thousands on prepaid funeral costs, they would be getting absolutely nothing for their money.“You will not receive those future services and the business is most likely unable to refund you,” said the notice from Consumer Protection BC. It cited a continuing investigation around the misappropriation of consumer funds by McLean’s Funeral Services Ltd.Days before the Chilliwack alert was issued, a prepaid funeral service provider in Langley, B.C., had its licence suspended for lacking money to fund prepaid services. In Ontario, at least two funeral service providers have had their licences revoked this year for various reasons, while one funeral director in Simcoe was sentenced to 12 months of house arrest for misappropriating funds related to prepaid services.