Preneed Trust Investments (Cost and fair market values associated with preneed cemetery trust investments) (Details) (Preneed Cemetery Trust Investments [Member], USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	Sep. 30, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Cost	$ 68,088	$ 72,187
Unrealized Gains	1,835	2,171
Unrealized Losses	(2,060)	(2,327)
Fair Market Value	67,863	72,031
Preneed cemetery trust investments	68,962	73,126
Fair market value as a percentage of cost	99.70%	99.80%
Cash and money market accounts [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Cost	864	758
Unrealized Gains	0	0
Unrealized Losses	0	0
Cash and money market accounts [Member] \| Fair Value, Inputs, Level 1 [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Fair Market Value	864	758
Foreign Government Debt Securities [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Cost	3,498	2,008
Unrealized Gains	36	450
Unrealized Losses	(42)	0
Foreign Government Debt Securities [Member] \| Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Fair Market Value	3,492	2,458
Corporate Debt [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Cost	34,000	38,299
Unrealized Gains	471	863
Unrealized Losses	(1,156)	(507)
Corporate Debt [Member] \| Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Fair Market Value	33,315	38,655
Preferred Stock [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Cost	17,869	22,362
Unrealized Gains	69	824
Unrealized Losses	(435)	(294)
Preferred Stock [Member] \| Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Fair Market Value	17,503	22,892
Mortgage Backed Securities [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Cost	1	1
Unrealized Gains	0	0
Unrealized Losses	0	0
Mortgage Backed Securities [Member] \| Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Fair Market Value	1	1
Common Stock [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Cost	11,856	8,759
Unrealized Gains	1,259	34
Unrealized Losses	(427)	(1,526)
Common Stock [Member] \| Fair Value, Inputs, Level 1 [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Fair Market Value	12,688	7,267
Accrued Investment Income [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Cost	1,099	1,095
Fair Market Value	$ 1,099	$ 1,095

Preneed Trust Investments (Cost and fair market values associated with preneed cemetery trust investments) (Details) (Preneed Cemetery Trust Investments [Member], USD $)
In Thousands, unless otherwise specified

Sep. 30, 2013

Dec. 31, 2012

Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]

Cost

$ 68,088

$ 72,187

Unrealized Gains

1,835

2,171

Unrealized Losses

(2,060)

(2,327)