My guess is that they were over paid or collected the SS death bennefit and never credited the account with it. Some funeral homes have done this unknowingly not on purpose or on purpose. After two people are dead and burried for some years why would they white out the funeral costs is beyond my personal comprehension. for a reason to do so. There is something wrong here i would suspect. I have seen a number of these and never had any of the charges whited out. Can you tell if they were whited out after the photo copy or before??? Slide your finger over the top of the place where it is whited out. Don't scrape across it. It should feel a little rough. or chalky. If so they did it after they copied it. If not then it was done probably after whatever reason they had to do it was done.. I would take it to a person in authority as an attorney or someone who may be able to tell. I would first take several copies using a good copy place and get a receipt for it and keep them separate from the original. Then get some advice from a person not associated with funeral homes. I talked to a lady what happened to tell me she was still paying by month on her dead mothers funeral bill and it seems like it don't get smaller very fast. I asked her to write them ( as she had moved away from there) and ask them for a FULL statement of the charges and a statement of the bill as it is being paid.w With payments and as to whom made the payments. She did this. In the mean time I told her to ask the SS administrtation to check for her mother's SS # and see if and when and if so , to whom with address as to where the death bennefit was paid to. This she did and the funeral home had gotten and and cashed this check and never credited her mother's bill with the money. She wrote them a letter telling them about what she had uncovered and also that she would like to have this credited to her mothers expenses now and send her a reciept for the credit giving her the new balance. She did and they said they didn't get the check from SS. She then sent another letter and told them enclosinbg copies in order of her findings from SS and her payments etc, and told them she wanted this credited NOW or she would deal with it otherwise most efficeintly and quickly. She got her receipt right back and with an apology. She then posted this story in someplace where other's could learn from it happening. Sometimes things happen and when no one questions it can go undetcted and someone losses especialy at this kind of time. THis is not a practice but can and may happen as such in this case. Reason the SS was not credited she didn't find out as they would not reply to that question. This has happened in Louisiana of thereabouts and she was in Wa. when she checked. If someone was still alive that was paying the bill and it was not paid in full, maybe they would do this but if the action had been some time back etc. Why is a good question. Maxine mmwaw@sprynet.com -----Original Message----- From: JoAnn L. Gemmrig <ka7suz@concentric.net> To: WASPOKAN-L@rootsweb.com <WASPOKAN-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Monday, April 29, 2002 3:50 PM Subject: Re: [WASPOKANE] Funeral records >Not all funeral homes do. The one you got the forms from is a little more >careful about 'right to privacy' things. > >JoAnn > >At 04:12 PM 4/29/02 -0600, you wrote: >>This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. >> >>Classification: Query >> >>Message Board URL: >> >>http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/3BC.2ACE/1676 >> >>Message Board Post: >> >>Hi all, >> >>I have a question that I hope someone can answer. I just received copies >>of the funeral records for my great-grandparents. They both had fabulous >>information but on both forms, the cause of death and the price of the >>funeral were whited out on the copies sent to me. >> >>Especially with the new interest in medical histories, why do they white >>out this information. >> >>Thanks, >> >>Debbie >> >> >>==== WASPOKAN Mailing List ==== >>URL for the Washington Message Boards. >>http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&p=localities.northam.usa. states.washington.counties&maxrows=25&dir=next >> >>============================== >>To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, >>go to: >>http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > > >==== WASPOKAN Mailing List ==== >Spokane County Message Boards >http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&p=localities.northam.usa.s tates.washington.counties.spokane&maxrows=25&dir=next > >============================== >To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: >http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 >

Please remember, funeral home records are private property. They can do whatever they want with them, including not sharing them with anyone, even relatives. I know which funeral home she is talking about, since I gave her the information. That is the policy of that and another funeral homes here. The policy pre-dates Social Security which is the case on one, if not both of the people. Please do not advise people to report to 'authorities' see attorneys etc -- the availability of acquiring these records are already tightening down. In fact, due to identity theft, many homes are not sharing anything more than what might be in an obituary on the advice of the National Funeral Home Directors Association. There is a great deal of valuable genealogical information on a funeral home record that is not printed in an obit. As for when the information was whited out, it was probably just covered with a piece of paper so that it didn't print to the copy machine. Your situation regarding someone paying on a bill is an entirely different matter. JoAnn At 05:25 PM 4/29/02 -0700, you wrote: >My guess is that they were over paid or collected the SS death bennefit and >never credited the account with it. Some funeral homes have done this >unknowingly not on purpose or on purpose. > After two people are dead and burried for some years why would they white >out the funeral costs is beyond my personal comprehension. for a reason to >do so. >There is something wrong here i would suspect. > I have seen a number of these and never had any of the charges whited out. >Can you tell if they were whited out after the photo copy or before??? > Slide your finger over the top of the place where it is whited out. Don't >scrape across it. > It should feel a little rough. or chalky. >If so they did it after they copied it. If not then it was done probably >after whatever reason they had to do it was done.. > I would take it to a person in authority as an attorney or someone who may >be able to tell. I would first take several copies using a good copy place >and get a receipt for it and keep them separate from the original. > Then get some advice from a person not associated with funeral homes. > I talked to a lady what happened to tell me she was still paying by month >on her dead mothers funeral bill and it seems like it don't get smaller very >fast. > I asked her to write them ( as she had moved away from there) and ask them >for a FULL statement of the charges and a statement of the bill as it is >being paid.w With payments and as to whom made the payments. > She did this. In the mean time I told her to ask the SS administrtation to >check for her mother's SS # and see if and when and if so , to whom with >address as to where the death bennefit was paid to. > This she did and the funeral home had gotten and and cashed this check and >never credited her mother's bill with the money. > She wrote them a letter telling them about what she had uncovered and also >that she would like to have this credited to her mothers expenses now and >send her a reciept for the credit giving her the new balance. She did and >they said they didn't get the check from SS. She then sent another letter >and told them enclosinbg copies in order of her findings from SS and her >payments etc, and told them she wanted this credited NOW or she would deal >with it otherwise most efficeintly and quickly. > She got her receipt right back and with an apology. She then posted this >story in someplace where other's could learn from it happening. > Sometimes things happen and when no one questions it can go undetcted and >someone losses especialy at this kind of time. > THis is not a practice but can and may happen as such in this case. Reason >the SS was not credited she didn't find out as they would not reply to that >question. This has happened in Louisiana of thereabouts and she was in Wa. >when she checked. If someone was still alive that was paying the bill and >it was not paid in full, maybe they would do this but if the action had been >some time back etc. Why is a good question. >Maxine >mmwaw@sprynet.com > >-----Original Message----- >From: JoAnn L. Gemmrig <ka7suz@concentric.net> >To: WASPOKAN-L@rootsweb.com <WASPOKAN-L@rootsweb.com> >Date: Monday, April 29, 2002 3:50 PM >Subject: Re: [WASPOKANE] Funeral records > > > >Not all funeral homes do. The one you got the forms from is a little more > >careful about 'right to privacy' things. > > > >JoAnn > > > >At 04:12 PM 4/29/02 -0600, you wrote: > >>This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. > >> > >>Classification: Query > >> > >>Message Board URL: > >> > >>http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/3BC.2ACE/1676 > >> > >>Message Board Post: > >> > >>Hi all, > >> > >>I have a question that I hope someone can answer. I just received copies > >>of the funeral records for my great-grandparents. They both had fabulous > >>information but on both forms, the cause of death and the price of the > >>funeral were whited out on the copies sent to me. > >> > >>Especially with the new interest in medical histories, why do they white > >>out this information. > >> > >>Thanks, > >> > >>Debbie > >> > >> > >>==== WASPOKAN Mailing List ==== > >>URL for the Washington Message Boards. > >>http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&p=localities.northam.usa. >states.washington.counties&maxrows=25&dir=next > >> > >>============================== > >>To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, > >>go to: > >>http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > > > > > >==== WASPOKAN Mailing List ==== > >Spokane County Message Boards > >http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&p=localities.northam.usa.s >tates.washington.counties.spokane&maxrows=25&dir=next > > > >============================== > >To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, >go to: > >http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > > > > >==== WASPOKAN Mailing List ==== >Spokane County GenWeb >http://www.rootsweb.com/~waspokan/ > >============================== >To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, >go to: >http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237