Todd Collard and his wife, Candi Mentink have owned and operated Caskets of Honor for years, providing high-quality custom designs at an affordable price for grieving families. But their dream of helping people honor their loved ones slammed into a roadblock when Oklahoma’s regulators stepped in.
The business started in 2016 soon after Todd decided to build a casket for fun. It didn’t take long for this project to become a business idea — one that would set them on their journey to manufacture affordable caskets with custom designs for those who lost loved ones. “I just always thought it’d be really neat,” Todd told Townhall. “We’ve all been to funerals and seeing just the same old caskets over and over.”
He continued, saying he “just thought it’d be really cool to be able to create a tribute to somebody or a theme or anything that they like—hunting, fishing, golf, whatever,” and that he wanted to “just create something that is memorable.”
From their shop in Calvin, Oklahoma, Caskets of Honor the couple worked together to create these caskets. Todd handles the building and outside design of the box while Candi uses her sewing skills to create the interior of the casket. “I tell people I’m a perfect example of why they should put Home Economics back in school,” Candi said.
Buying a casket direct from the company benefits consumers because if they were to purchase one at a funeral home, they would be paying exorbitant prices due to markups. Caskets of Honor sells to its customers directly so they don’t have to deal with inflated prices.
At first, the couple sold to funeral homes. But they wished to sell to families, so they took their products to the Tulsa State Fair in 2021. Todd said their caskets were “the hit of the fair,” with many coming by their booth to see their caskets. They gave away over 2,000 business cards at the event.
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Unfortunately, they had no idea this would be the beginning of a yearslong battle. A man came by their booth saying he wanted to purchase a casket for his father. In reality, he was an investigator for the Funeral Board. He came back minutes later and told the couple they had to remove their display.
“You have to shut down immediately and pack your stuff up and leave,” the investigator said, according to Todd.
This kicked off a confrontation that led to an enforcement case before the Oklahoma Funeral Board, the state agency that administers the Funeral Services Licensing Act, which regulates funeral directors and establishments. The board is made up largely of industry insiders. By law, five of its seven members must be licensed funeral directors or embalmers.
Under the law, anyone who wishes to sell caskets directly to the public in Oklahoma is treated as a seller of “funeral service merchandise,” which means they must be a licensed funeral director working out of a licensed funeral establishment.
The board initially wanted to impose an $8,000 fine on the couple for selling caskets without a license. They hired an attorney who helped them lower it to $4,000. But this didn’t solve the problem because Caskets of Honor would not be allowed to do business in the state unless the couple obtained a funeral director’s license.
“We would have to have an embalming room, all of that,” Candi said. “We have to turn this into a funeral home,” to comply with the law.
Instead, on their lawyer’s advice, the couple established the company in Texas “so we could legally sell back into Oklahoma.”
Matt Liles with the Institute for Justice told Townhall that the couple “organized Caskets of Honor as a Texas company…and then Candi and Todd subcontract the order with their Oklahoma graphic design business,” to avoid running afoul of the Funeral Board. He described this as a “legal fiction that gets them to avoid Oklahoma’s licensing laws.”
This did not stop the Funeral Board from trying to target the couple. Candi recalled an individual who approached them for a casket and insisted on paying them with cash or check. Candi looked up the individual after he left and found that he works with one of the Funeral Board’s members.
Even if the couple wanted to become licensed, the hoops they must jump through aren’t easy. Oklahoma statute requires those seeking licenses to meet detailed course hour requirements, then pass multiple exams. Applicants are required to complete a one-year apprenticeship in a funeral establishment and assist on at least 25 funeral arrangements and 25 services.
“You have to go take two years to get…an actual degree in mortuary science at a university, which costs a lot of money,” Liles said. Completing the program could take up to two years and cost between $20,000 and $48,000 in tuition and fees.
All this just to sell a box.
Instead of giving in, the couple worked tirelessly to remove regulations that prevent people like them from operating a legitimate business. They spent hours meeting with lawmakers. Unfortunately, most did not seem interested.
The Institute for Justice filed a petition in early February in Oklahoma County District Court against the Oklahoma Funeral Board and its officials, alleging that the licensing requirements for casket sales violate multiple provisions of the state’s Constitution.
The lawsuit argues that requiring casket sellers to become funeral directors “have nothing to do with protecting the health or safety of Oklahomans” but “confer exclusive economic privileges onto licensed members of the funeral industry.” The complaint argues that the regulations place “patently oppressive and unreasonable burdens” on people like Todd and Candi.
Liles explained that Oklahoma “is one of only three remaining states in the country that have laws like this.” Courts have struck down similar measures in other states.
The couple argues that these regulations exist solely to protect established funeral directors from competition. As stated previously, the Funeral Board is made up mostly of existing funeral directors. The complaint refers to the board as an “anti-competitive cartel” that unfairly discriminates against those who just wish to sell caskets.
In the end, Candi and Todd aren’t doing this just for income. To them, it’s a mission for which their customers have been grateful. “When you have them come up and hug you, and you feel like you’ve known them all your life, and they thank you so much for what you’ve done, that’s why you keep fighting,” Candi said. “They started this that day they showed up at the Oklahoma State Fair…That’s why we don’t quit. We keep going.”
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