Guarantor Condensed Consolidating Balance Sheets (Details) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	Mar. 31, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013	Mar. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012
Condensed Balance Sheet Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	$ 148,619	$ 144,873	$ 188,546	$ 92,708
Receivables, net	105,813	105,899
Inventories, net	34,508	34,668
Current assets held for sale	5,740	4,569
Other	81,324	104,598
Total current assets	376,004	394,607
Equity in subsidiaries	0	0
Preneed funeral receivables, net and trust investments	1,871,539	1,870,874
Preneed cemetery receivables, net and trust investments	2,301,633	2,300,911
Cemetery property, at cost	1,721,446	1,747,125
Property and equipment, net	1,887,019	1,920,868
Non-current assets held for sale	795,001	746,474
Deferred charges and other assets	631,759	632,088
Goodwill, net	1,978,621	1,968,235
Cemetery perpetual care trust investments	1,342,589	1,347,622
Total assets	12,905,611	12,928,804
Accounts payable and accrued liabilities	477,368	486,648
Current maturities of long-term debt	105,705	176,362
Current liabilities held for sale	4,850	3,183
Income taxes	3,301	6,391
Total current liabilities	591,224	672,584
Long-term debt	3,133,925	3,125,548
Deferred preneed funeral revenues	672,631	686,160
Deferred preneed cemetery revenues	986,538	974,757
Deferred tax liability	586,991	581,440
Non-current liabilities held for sale	504,423	437,084
Other liabilities	404,693	430,393
Deferred preneed funeral and cemetery receipts held in trust	3,245,629	3,250,586
Care trusts’ corpus	1,340,361	1,345,874
Common stock	213,532	212,317
Other equity	1,145,680	1,113,472
Accumulated other comprehensive income	77,215	88,441
Total common stockholders’ equity	1,436,427	1,414,230
Noncontrolling interests	2,769	10,148
Total equity	1,439,196	1,424,378	1,399,081	1,362,827
Total liabilities and equity	12,905,611	12,928,804
Parent Company [Member]
Condensed Balance Sheet Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	0	0	0	0
Receivables, net	0	0
Inventories, net	0	0
Current assets held for sale	0	0
Other	9,176	9,083
Total current assets	9,176	9,083
Equity in subsidiaries	4,280,493	4,132,098
Preneed funeral receivables, net and trust investments	0	0
Preneed cemetery receivables, net and trust investments	0	0
Cemetery property, at cost	0	0
Property and equipment, net	0	0
Non-current assets held for sale	0	0
Deferred charges and other assets	39,887	42,068
Goodwill, net	0	0
Cemetery perpetual care trust investments	0	0
Total assets	4,329,556	4,183,249
Accounts payable and accrued liabilities	54,039	31,914
Current maturities of long-term debt	0	30,000
Current liabilities held for sale	0	0
Income taxes	0	0
Total current liabilities	54,039	61,914
Long-term debt	2,833,690	2,701,611
Deferred preneed funeral revenues	0	0
Deferred preneed cemetery revenues	0	0
Deferred tax liability	1,082	1,092
Non-current liabilities held for sale	0	0
Other liabilities	4,318	4,402
Deferred preneed funeral and cemetery receipts held in trust	0	0
Care trusts’ corpus	0	0
Common stock	213,532	212,317
Other equity	1,145,680	1,113,472
Accumulated other comprehensive income	77,215	88,441
Total common stockholders’ equity	1,436,427	1,414,230
Noncontrolling interests	0	0
Total equity	1,436,427	1,414,230
Total liabilities and equity	4,329,556	4,183,249
Subsidiary Issuer [Member]
Condensed Balance Sheet Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	21,341	53,543
Receivables, net	909	442
Inventories, net	0	0
Current assets held for sale	0	0
Other	7,668	29,133
Total current assets	29,918	83,118
Equity in subsidiaries	657,543	828,457
Preneed funeral receivables, net and trust investments	0	0
Preneed cemetery receivables, net and trust investments	0	0
Cemetery property, at cost	0	0
Property and equipment, net	13,900	15,243
Non-current assets held for sale	0	0
Deferred charges and other assets	17,684	31,807
Goodwill, net	647,890	624,711
Cemetery perpetual care trust investments	0	0
Total assets	1,366,935	1,583,336
Accounts payable and accrued liabilities	25,723	46,020
Current maturities of long-term debt	95	106,939
Current liabilities held for sale	0	0
Income taxes	74	560
Total current liabilities	25,892	153,519
Long-term debt	209,418	270,578
Deferred preneed funeral revenues	0	0
Deferred preneed cemetery revenues	0	0
Deferred tax liability	0	0
Non-current liabilities held for sale	0	0
Other liabilities	14,779	29,944
Deferred preneed funeral and cemetery receipts held in trust	0	0
Care trusts’ corpus	0	0
Common stock	85,175	85,175
Other equity	1,031,671	1,044,120
Accumulated other comprehensive income	0	0
Total common stockholders’ equity	1,116,846	1,129,295
Noncontrolling interests	0	0
Total equity	1,116,846	1,129,295
Total liabilities and equity	1,366,935	1,583,336
Guarantor Subsidiaries [Member]
Condensed Balance Sheet Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	753	1,898
Receivables, net	5,536	23,908
Inventories, net	10,194	10,925
Current assets held for sale	4,164	3,333
Other	34,403	35,368
Total current assets	55,050	75,432
Equity in subsidiaries	4,546	4,546
Preneed funeral receivables, net and trust investments	376,292	358,567
Preneed cemetery receivables, net and trust investments	255,305	265,346
Cemetery property, at cost	233,661	264,226
Property and equipment, net	294,574	306,174
Non-current assets held for sale	451,409	443,170
Deferred charges and other assets	171,703	150,665
Goodwill, net	0	0
Cemetery perpetual care trust investments	206,859	223,903
Total assets	2,049,399	2,092,029
Accounts payable and accrued liabilities	25,955	43,706
Current maturities of long-term debt	291	0
Current liabilities held for sale	3,484	1,647
Income taxes	90	1,427
Total current liabilities	29,820	46,780
Long-term debt	172	89
Deferred preneed funeral revenues	177,046	176,958
Deferred preneed cemetery revenues	106,168	85,163
Deferred tax liability	152,608	61,835
Non-current liabilities held for sale	208,029	162,668
Other liabilities	7,168	11,116
Deferred preneed funeral and cemetery receipts held in trust	473,606	503,667
Care trusts’ corpus	207,309	223,903
Common stock	102	102
Other equity	687,371	819,748
Accumulated other comprehensive income	0	0
Total common stockholders’ equity	687,473	819,850
Noncontrolling interests	0	0
Total equity	687,473	819,850
Total liabilities and equity	2,049,399	2,092,029
Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries [Member]
Condensed Balance Sheet Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	126,525	89,432	188,546	92,708
Receivables, net	99,368	81,549
Inventories, net	24,314	23,743
Current assets held for sale	1,576	1,236
Other	30,077	31,014
Total current assets	281,860	226,974
Equity in subsidiaries	0	0
Preneed funeral receivables, net and trust investments	1,495,247	1,512,307
Preneed cemetery receivables, net and trust investments	2,046,328	2,035,565
Cemetery property, at cost	1,487,785	1,482,899
Property and equipment, net	1,578,545	1,599,451
Non-current assets held for sale	343,592	303,304
Deferred charges and other assets	402,485	407,548
Goodwill, net	1,330,731	1,343,524
Cemetery perpetual care trust investments	1,135,730	1,123,719
Total assets	10,102,303	10,035,291
Accounts payable and accrued liabilities	371,651	365,008
Current maturities of long-term debt	105,319	39,423
Current liabilities held for sale	1,366	1,536
Income taxes	3,137	4,404
Total current liabilities	481,473	410,371
Long-term debt	90,645	153,270
Deferred preneed funeral revenues	495,585	509,202
Deferred preneed cemetery revenues	880,370	889,594
Deferred tax liability	433,301	518,513
Non-current liabilities held for sale	296,394	274,416
Other liabilities	378,428	384,931
Deferred preneed funeral and cemetery receipts held in trust	2,772,023	2,746,919
Care trusts’ corpus	1,133,052	1,121,971
Common stock	25	25
Other equity	3,141,007	2,937,638
Accumulated other comprehensive income	0	88,441
Total common stockholders’ equity	3,141,032	3,026,104
Noncontrolling interests	0	0
Total equity	3,141,032	3,026,104
Total liabilities and equity	10,102,303	10,035,291
Consolidation, Eliminations [Member]
Condensed Balance Sheet Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	0	0	0	0
Receivables, net	0	0
Inventories, net	0	0
Current assets held for sale	0	0
Other	0	0
Total current assets	0	0
Equity in subsidiaries	(4,942,582)	(4,965,101)
Preneed funeral receivables, net and trust investments	0	0
Preneed cemetery receivables, net and trust investments	0	0
Cemetery property, at cost	0	0
Property and equipment, net	0	0
Non-current assets held for sale	0	0
Deferred charges and other assets	0	0
Goodwill, net	0	0
Cemetery perpetual care trust investments	0	0
Total assets	(4,942,582)	(4,965,101)
Accounts payable and accrued liabilities	0	0
Current maturities of long-term debt	0	0
Current liabilities held for sale	0	0
Income taxes	0	0
Total current liabilities	0	0
Long-term debt	0	0
Deferred preneed funeral revenues	0	0
Deferred preneed cemetery revenues	0	0
Deferred tax liability	0	0
Non-current liabilities held for sale	0	0
Other liabilities	0	0
Deferred preneed funeral and cemetery receipts held in trust	0	0
Care trusts’ corpus	0	0
Common stock	(85,302)	(85,302)
Other equity	(4,860,049)	(4,801,506)
Accumulated other comprehensive income	0	(88,441)
Total common stockholders’ equity	(4,945,351)	(4,975,249)
Noncontrolling interests	2,769	10,148
Total equity	(4,942,582)	(4,965,101)
Total liabilities and equity	$ (4,942,582)	$ (4,965,101)