Acquisition Acquisition, Textuals (Details)	12 Months Ended					12 Months Ended						12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2011 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2010 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2011 USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2010 USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2010 CAD	Dec. 31, 2011 Cemetery [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2010 Cemetery [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 Funeral [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2010 Funeral [Member] USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2010 Current [Member] USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2010 Noncurrent [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2010 Keystone Acquisition [Member] Cemetery [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2010 Keystone Acquisition [Member] Funeral [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 Neptune [Member] USD ($)
Business Acquisition, Cost of Acquired Entity, Purchase Price Per Share					8.07
Business Acquisition, Cost of Acquired Entity, Purchase Price			$ 44,000,000	$ 288,900,000
Business Acquisition, Debt Refinancing				80,700,000
Business Combination, Acquisition Related Costs		7,100,000
Amortization of Acquisition Costs		3,700,000
Business Combination, Acquired Receivables, Gross Contractual Amount										8,200,000	5,500,000
Business Combination, Acquired Receivables, Estimated Uncollectible										2,100,000	300,000
Business Acquisition, Purchase Price Allocation, Noncurrent Assets, Receivables				5,200,000
Goodwill				108,643,000										37,300,000
Goodwill, Acquired During Period	61,396,000	120,096,000				463,000	6,076,000	60,933,000	114,020,000			4,300,000	104,300,000
Business Acquisition, Purchase Price Allocation, Goodwill, Expected Tax Deductible Amount				26,000,000
Business Acquisition, Pro Forma Revenue		83,700,000
Business Combination, Pro Forma Information, Earnings or Loss of Acquiree since Acquisition Date, Actual		16,700,000
Business Acquisition, Percentage of Voting Interests Acquired			70.00%
Business Acquisition, Purchase Price Allocation, Amortizable Intangible Assets				$ 34,312,000										$ 37,600,000