Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann says changes in Mississippi’s pre-need funeral law will provide more monitoring and flexibility for consumers.

Changes to take effect July 1 will direct $10 from each customer’s contract to build up a fund geared to protect consumers against future reported contract problems.

Hosemann says payments for pre-need services will be portable, except for grave spaces, and customers can check in on funds available with trust officers to be set up at banks.

When passed in 2001, the state’s Pre-Need Act stipulated that 50 percent of funds prepaid for burial and related services had to be deposited in a trust fund. In 2006, it was amended to 85 percent.