A few years ago, our colleague Dominique Mosbergen was at a 4th of July barbecue, where she struck up a conversation with someone who's a funeral director.

While everyone else was enjoying the 4th of July festivities,

this funeral director and I were in the corner

and I was asking her all these questions about it.

They talked a lot about her job and what it's like.

And then the funeral director said something in passing that stoked Dominique's interest.

You know, I remember her saying something about how the funeral industry has a bad reputation

for price gouging customers and being notorious for certain unscrupulous

practices. And that really sparked this question in my mind.

Is it true that many funeral homes are taking advantage of customers

at moments of vulnerability.

And I wasn't sure what the answer to that question was.

And that sent Dominique on a multi-year journey.

She spoke to grieving families and funeral directors. She went

through thousands of pages of documents and she found that there are bad

actors in the funeral industry and many of them have been hidden

from the public thanks to a 25 year old deal between the industry and regulators.

Welcome to the journal, our show about money, business and power.

I'm Kate Leimbaw. It's Thursday, February 15th.

Coming up on the show, how unethical funeral homes have exploited grieving families for decades. This episode is brought to you by Empower. If you're like most people, you've had your fair share of financial questions.

Questions like, will you be able to afford a third kid?

Will you be able to do everything you want when you retire?

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