Goodwill and Intangible Assets

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2023

Goodwill and Intangible Assets Disclosure [Abstract]

Goodwill Disclosure [Text Block]

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,
	2025						2024
	Funeral		Cemetery		Total		Funeral		Cemetery		Total
	(In thousands)
Beginning balance — Goodwill	$	1,685,033	$	395,982	$	2,081,015	$	1,618,370	$	358,816	$	1,977,186
Increase in goodwill related to acquisitions	72,501		10,810		83,311		75,734		37,167		112,901
Reduction of goodwill related to divestitures (1)	—		—		—		(996)		—		(996)
Effect of foreign currency	4,726		3		4,729		(8,075)		(1)		(8,076)
Total activity	77,227		10,813		88,040		66,663		37,166		103,829
Ending balance — Goodwill	$	1,762,260	$	406,795	$	2,169,055	$	1,685,033	$	395,982	$	2,081,015

(1) Also includes reductions for businesses held for sale.

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

	Useful Life
	Minimum		Maximum	2025		2024
	(Years)			(In thousands)
Amortizing intangibles:
Covenants-not-to-compete	1	-	15	$	229,391	$	226,292
Customer relationships	10	-	20	136,956		136,675
Tradenames	5	-	89	7,000		7,000
Other	5	-	89	26,927		26,927
				400,274		396,894
Less accumulated amortization:
Covenants-not-to-compete				211,805		208,589
Customer relationships				99,478		94,087
Tradenames				595		516
Other				12,503		11,764
				324,381		314,956
Amortizing intangibles, net				75,893		81,938
Non-amortizing intangibles:
Tradenames			Indefinite	386,890		419,679
Other			Indefinite	10,791		10,765
Non-amortizing intangibles				397,681		430,444
Intangible assets, net — included in Deferred charges and other assets, net				$	473,574	$	512,382

As part of our recoverability testing process during 2025, we incurred an impairment on tradenames of $2.0 million. Amortization expense for intangible assets was $16.4 million, $17.2 million, and $18.7 million for the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024, and 2023, 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 obligations on our preneed contracts, for the five years subsequent to December 31, 2025 (in thousands):

2026	$	4,808
2027	3,324
2028	2,725
2029	2,653
2030	2,570
Total estimated amortization expense	$	16,080