The Illinois Funeral Directors Association is the defendant in a lawsuit filed by six association members over the handling of a pre-need funeral trust fund administered by IFDA Services, a for-profit arm of the non-profit IFDA.

The trust fund was designed to cover expenses for an estimated 49,000 people who took out policies.

The Illinois Controller’s office recently ruled that the IFDA should not have been in the pre-need insurance business; the association had been granted a license by then-controller Roland Burris, now a US Senator for Illinois.

The association is also facing a lawsuit from two consumers alleging violation of state consumer-protection laws.

A statement on the IFDA website says that Merrill Lynch Bank & Trust Co. FSB has assumed the responsibilities of trustee, and that any principal deposited towards pre-need accounts is safe.