COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

Leases

We lease certain office facilities, certain funeral homes, vehicles and equipment under operating leases with original terms ranging from one to twelve years. Certain of these leases provide for an annual adjustment and contain options for renewal. Rent expense totaled $6.4 million, $6.5 million and $6.1 million for the years ended December 31, 2014, 2015 and 2016, respectively. Assets acquired under capital leases are included in property, plant and equipment in our accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets in the amount of $2.9 million in 2015 and $2.7 million in 2016, net of accumulated depreciation. Capital lease obligations are included in current and long-term debt as indicated below. At December 31, 2016, future minimum lease payments under non-cancelable lease agreements were as follows (in thousands):



	Future Minimum Lease Payments
	Operating Leases		Capital Leases
Years ending December 31,
2017	$	4,243	$	483
2018	2,660		421
2019	2,380		388
2020	1,840		334
2021	1,446		334
Thereafter	566		2,996
Total future minimum lease payments	$	13,135	$	4,956
Less: amount representing interest (rates ranging from 7.0% to 10.0%)			(2,080		)
Less: current portion of obligations under capital leases			(246		)
Long-term obligations under capital leases			$	2,630

Non-Compete, Consulting and Employment Agreements

We have various non-compete agreements with former owners and employees. These agreements are generally for one to ten years and provide for periodic future payments over the term of the agreements.

We have various consulting agreements with former owners of businesses we have acquired. Payments for such agreements are generally not made in advance. These agreements are generally for one to ten years and provide for bi-weekly or monthly payments.

We have employment agreements with certain of our executive officers and senior leadership. These agreements are generally for three or four years and provide for participation in various incentive compensation arrangements. These agreements automatically renew on an annual basis after their initial term has expired.

At December 31, 2016, the maximum estimated future cash commitments under these agreements with remaining commitment terms, and with original terms of more than one year, are as follows (in thousands):



	Non-Compete		Consulting		Employment		Total
Years ending December 31,
2017	$	2,407	$	1,509	$	1,720	$	5,636
2018	1,326		680		119		2,125
2019	1,111		439		—		1,550
2020	881		301		—		1,182
2021	776		218		—		994
Thereafter	1,576		17		—		1,593
	$	8,077	$	3,164	$	1,839	$	13,080

401(K) Plan

We sponsor a defined contribution plan (401K) for the benefit of our employees. Matching contributions and plan administrative expenses totaled $1.6 million, $1.7 million and $1.8 million for 2014, 2015 and 2016, respectively. We do not offer any post-retirement or post-employment benefits.

Other Commitments

Effective April 30, 2016, we terminated an agreement to outsource the processing of transactions for our cemetery business and certain accounting activities. At that time, all transaction processing returned in-house and we retained most of the personnel of the service provider that resided in our home office. We believe that the costs associated with performing these formerly outsourced activities internally should, for the foreseeable future, be less than the costs we incurred under the outsourcing arrangement. For both years ended December 31, 2014 and 2015, we incurred costs of approximately $1.9 million, respectively for services rendered under this agreement, of which we paid approximately $1.0 million, each year, with the remainder paid by the Preneed cemetery trust investments portfolio. For the year ended December 31, 2016, we incurred costs of approximately $0.9 million for services rendered under this agreement, of which we paid approximately $0.6 million, with the remainder paid by the Preneed cemetery trust investments portfolio.

Litigation

We are a party to various litigation matters and proceedings. For each of our outstanding legal matters, we evaluate the merits of the case, our exposure to the matter, possible legal or settlement strategies, and the likelihood of an unfavorable outcome. If we determine that an unfavorable outcome is probable and can be reasonably estimated, we establish the necessary accruals. We hold certain insurance policies that may reduce cash outflows with respect to an adverse outcome of certain of these litigation matters.