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Attorneys sort out Kern plan Funeral businesses get Aug. 31 hearing By DAVID PRESZLER Attorneys spent Tuesday sorting out the fate of Kern Family Services' funeral and burial businesses in Medford and Grants Pass and came away without a definitive answer. The complicated case returned to U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Eugene so the judge, the numerous attorneys and the trustee appointed to oversee the company's reorganization plan could consider the options and figure out who will decide what should be done with the businesses. After a lengthy hearing, the judge decided the choice will lie with the court-approved trustee, Salem attorney Michael Batlan. The most likely scenario is that the Grants Pass businesses will be sold for $4 million to Service Corp. International and that a $1.75 million loan will be taken out to run the Medford businesses until a buyer can be found, according to Eugene attorney Wilson Muhlheim. Muhlheim was the lead attorney for Kern Family Services who guided the crafting of the reorganization plan and is now working for Batlan. Kern Family Services operates the Perl group of businesses in Medford and similar businesses in Grants Pass that include Hull & Hull Funeral Home, Hawthorne Memorial Gardens and Southern Oregon Cremation Services. The case has drawn attention because an estimated $5.2 million is missing from a trust fund that customers paid into for future services. The reorganization plan, put in place earlier this year, calls for the trust fund and other company debts to be repaid by the sale of all the company's businesses and by assets of the Kern family. Though details are still being worked out, Muhlheim says customers who paid for services are still getting them and that there will be plenty of money to repay the fund. "The funding is still in good shape," he said. "We know that every contract is going to be served." The next hearing, set for Aug. 31, will center on other funding issues, including how much money SCI needs to put toward repaying the trust fund. Some of the missing money was never turned over to Kern Family Services when it bought the Medford businesses from SCI. Today's Business Index Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA