Nature of Operations Level 1 (Notes)	6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2013
Nature of Operations [Abstract]
Nature of Operations [Text Block]	Nature of Operations We are North America’s largest provider of deathcare products and services, with a network of funeral service locations and cemeteries primarily operating in the United States and Canada. Our operations consist of funeral service locations, cemeteries, funeral service/cemetery combination locations, crematoria, and related businesses. Funeral service locations provide all professional services relating to funerals and cremations, including the use of funeral facilities and motor vehicles and preparation and embalming services. Funeral-related merchandise, including caskets, casket memorialization products, burial vaults, cremation receptacles, cremation memorial products, flowers, and other ancillary products and services, is sold at funeral service locations. Cemeteries provide cemetery property interment rights, including developed lots, lawn crypts, and mausoleum spaces and sell cemetery-related merchandise and services, including stone and bronze memorials, markers, merchandise installations, and burial openings and closings. We also sell preneed funeral and cemetery merchandise and services whereby a customer contractually agrees to the terms of certain products and services to be provided in the future. On May 29, 2013, we entered into a definitive agreement to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Stewart Enterprises, Inc. (Stewart) for $13.25 per share in cash. Stewart operated 217 funerals and 141 cemeteries as of April 30, 2013. The transaction provides us with an opportunity for growth consistent with our capital deployment strategy and will allow us the ability to serve a number of new, complementary areas, while enabling us to capitalize on what we believe will produce significant synergies and operating efficiencies. The transaction is valued at approximately $1.5 billion, which includes approximately $331.6 million of Stewart's debt. We expect to fund the transaction with cash on hand, the utilization of debt under our new credit facility, and from the proceeds from the issuance of our long-term senior notes as discussed in Note 9. The acquisition is subject to, among other conditions, antitrust clearance and approval of the Stewart stockholders. It is anticipated that the acquisition will be completed at the end of 2013 or in early 2014, however there can be no assurance that the acquisition will be completed by this time or at all.

Nature of Operations

We are North America’s largest provider of deathcare products and services, with a network of funeral service locations and cemeteries primarily operating in the United States and Canada. Our operations consist of funeral service locations, cemeteries, funeral service/cemetery combination locations, crematoria, and related businesses.

Funeral service locations provide all professional services relating to funerals and cremations, including the use of funeral facilities and motor vehicles and preparation and embalming services. Funeral-related merchandise, including caskets, casket memorialization products, burial vaults, cremation receptacles, cremation memorial products, flowers, and other ancillary products and services, is sold at funeral service locations. Cemeteries provide cemetery property interment rights, including developed lots, lawn crypts, and mausoleum spaces and sell cemetery-related merchandise and services, including stone and bronze memorials, markers, merchandise installations, and burial openings and closings. We also sell preneed funeral and cemetery merchandise and services whereby a customer contractually agrees to the terms of certain products and services to be provided in the future.

On May 29, 2013, we entered into a definitive agreement to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Stewart Enterprises, Inc. (Stewart) for $13.25 per share in cash. Stewart operated 217 funerals and 141 cemeteries as of April 30, 2013. The transaction provides us with an opportunity for growth consistent with our capital deployment strategy and will allow us the ability to serve a number of new, complementary areas, while enabling us to capitalize on what we believe will produce significant synergies and operating efficiencies. The transaction is valued at approximately $1.5 billion, which includes approximately $331.6 million of Stewart's debt. We expect to fund the transaction with cash on hand, the utilization of debt under our new credit facility, and from the proceeds from the issuance of our long-term senior notes as discussed in Note 9. The acquisition is subject to, among other conditions, antitrust clearance and approval of the Stewart stockholders. It is anticipated that the acquisition will be completed at the end of 2013 or in early 2014, however there can be no assurance that the acquisition will be completed by this time or at all.