Goodwill and Intangible Assets Goodwill and Intangible Assets Level 3 (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2018

Goodwill and Intangible Assets Disclosure [Abstract]

The changes in the carrying amounts of goodwill for our funeral and cemetery reporting units are as follows:



	Years Ended December 31,
	2018									2017
	Funeral			Cemetery			Total			Funeral			Cemetery			Total
	(In thousands)
Beginning balance--Goodwill	$	1,499,741		$	306,240		$	1,805,981		$	1,493,655		$	305,426		$	1,799,081

Increase in goodwill related to acquisitions	38,976			29,219			68,195			8,013			1,215			9,228
Reduction of goodwill related to divestitures	(2,183		)	(24		)	(2,207		)	(8,495		)	(401		)	(8,896		)
Effect of foreign currency	(8,127		)	—			(8,127		)	6,568			—			6,568
Activity	28,666			29,195			57,861			6,086			814			6,900
Ending balance--Goodwill	$	1,528,407		$	335,435		$	1,863,842		$	1,499,741		$	306,240		$	1,805,981

Schedule of Intangible Assets [Table Text Block]

The components of intangible assets at December 31 were as follows:



	Useful Life
	Minimum		Maximum	2018		2017
	(Years)			(In thousands)
Amortizing intangibles:
Covenants-not-to-compete	2	-	20	$	215,424	$	214,628
Customer relationships	10	-	20	158,347		129,516
Tradenames	5	-	89	16,150		9,150
Other	5	-	89	25,103		11,927
				415,024		365,221
Less: accumulated amortization:
Covenants-not-to-compete				195,536		192,296
Customer relationships				75,199		61,321
Tradenames				9,194		7,320
Other				5,504		4,830
				285,433		265,767

Amortizing intangibles, net				129,591		99,454

Non-amortizing intangibles:
Tradenames			Indefinite	293,474		263,880
Other			Indefinite	10,765		10,765
Non-amortizing intangibles				304,239		274,645

Intangible assets, net - included in Deferred charges and other assets				$	433,830	$	374,099

Schedule of Expected Amortization Expense [Table Text Block]

The following is estimated amortization expense, excluding certain intangibles for which we are unable to provide an estimate because they are amortized based on specific identification in the fulfillment of performance obligation on our preneed contracts, for the five years subsequent to December 31, 2018 (in thousands):



2019	$	8,167
2020	7,076
2021	6,966
2022	5,801
2023	5,410
Total estimated amortization expense	$	33,420