Goodwill and Intangible Assets

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Goodwill and Intangible Assets Disclosure [Abstract]

Goodwill and Intangible Assets

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



	Years Ended December 31,
	2019									2018
	Funeral			Cemetery			Total			Funeral			Cemetery			Total
	(In thousands)
Beginning balance — Goodwill	$	1,528,407		$	335,435		$	1,863,842		$	1,499,741		$	306,240		$	1,805,981
Increase (decrease) in goodwill related to acquisitions ⁽¹⁾	7,458			(6,003		)	1,455			38,976			29,219			68,195
Reduction of goodwill related to divestitures	(5,003		)	(487		)	(5,490		)	(2,183		)	(24		)	(2,207		)
Effect of foreign currency	4,416			—			4,416			(8,127		)	—			(8,127		)
Activity	6,871			(6,490		)	381			28,666			29,195			57,861
Ending balance — Goodwill	$	1,535,278		$	328,945		$	1,864,223		$	1,528,407		$	335,435		$	1,863,842


⁽¹⁾	Also includes adjustments within the remeasurement period related to acquisitions.

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



	Useful Life
	Minimum		Maximum	2019		2018
	(Years)			(In thousands)
Amortizing intangibles:
Covenants-not-to-compete	2	-	20	$	216,646	$	215,424
Customer relationships	10	-	20	149,479		158,347
Tradenames	5	-	89	7,000		16,150
Other	5	-	89	26,927		25,103
				400,052		415,024
Less: accumulated amortization:
Covenants-not-to-compete				198,610		195,536
Customer relationships				83,047		75,199
Tradenames				123		9,194
Other				8,067		5,504
				289,847		285,433

Amortizing intangibles, net				110,205		129,591

Non-amortizing intangibles:
Tradenames			Indefinite	310,197		293,474
Other			Indefinite	10,765		10,765
Non-amortizing intangibles				320,962		304,239

Intangible assets, net — included in Deferred charges and other assets				$	431,167	$	433,830

As part of our annual recoverability testing process during 2019, we recognized $3.4 million of impairment on tradenames. Amortization expense for intangible assets was $25.6 million, $26.2 million, and $27.7 million for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018, and 2017, respectively. 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, 2019 (in thousands):



2020	$	7,239
2021	7,140
2022	5,975
2023	5,584
2024	5,439
Total estimated amortization expense	$	31,377