Preneed Trust Investments (Purchases and sales of investments in preneed funeral trusts) (Details) (Preneed Funeral Trust Investments [Member], USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2014	Sep. 30, 2013	Sep. 30, 2014	Sep. 30, 2013
Preneed Funeral Trust Investments [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Purchases	$ (14,630)	$ (17,266)	$ (44,147)	$ (28,355)
Sales	$ 14,691	$ 15,697	$ 44,840	$ 29,924

The cash outflow to acquire debt and equity securities not classified as either held-to-maturity securities or trading securities which would be classified as available-for-sale securities and reported at fair value, with unrealized gains and losses excluded from earnings and reported in a separate component of shareholders' equity.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Glossary Investing Activities

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6516133

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 320

-SubTopic 10

-Section 45

-Paragraph 11

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6871852&loc=d3e26853-111562

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 230

-SubTopic 10

-Section 45

-Paragraph 13

-Subparagraph (a),(b)

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=31042434&loc=d3e3213-108585

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Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration