Goodwill (Notes)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2018

Goodwill and Intangible Assets Disclosure [Abstract]

GOODWILL

Many of the former owners and staff of our acquired funeral homes and certain cemeteries have provided high quality service to families for generations. The resulting loyalty often represents a substantial portion of the value of a business. The excess of the purchase price over the fair value of identifiable net assets of funeral home businesses acquired is recorded as goodwill. Goodwill has primarily been recorded in connection with the acquisition of funeral home businesses.

See Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements included herein, for a discussion of the methodology used for our annual goodwill impairment test.

The following table presents changes in goodwill in the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets for the year ended December 31, 2017 and period ended September 30, 2018 (in thousands):



	December 31, 2017		September 30, 2018
Goodwill at the beginning of year	$	275,487	$	287,956
Increase in goodwill related to acquisitions	12,469		16,777
Goodwill at the end of the period	$	287,956	$	304,733