He still writes preneed policies for families this week.

Built from the Field Up

Duane Cutlip's career in preneed was built inside funeral homes — not in a consulting firm or a carrier's regional office. He has personally written thousands of preneed policies, trained counselors, built programs from the ground up, helped funeral homes navigate carrier transitions, and worked through NC Board of Funeral Service examinations. Most of that work didn't come from a marketing campaign. It came from funeral homes that needed someone they could trust and knew Duane was the right call.

Over nearly 20 years, he has been involved with more than nine funeral homes across North Carolina — some for a single seminar, some for a season of coverage, some as their primary preneed resource for years at a stretch. The work has ranged from emergency fill-ins on no notice to sustained program management to training days with a full staff.

Why the Other Credentials Exist

The insurance license didn't appear separately from the preneed work — it grew out of it. Families preplanning their funerals almost always have insurance questions. Being able to answer those questions accurately, and to help fund a preneed plan with the right product, made Duane more useful to the families he was already serving.

The financial services background predates funeral service. Before entering the funeral profession, Duane was a small business owner with a corporate finance background. That background shapes how he looks at a funeral home's preneed program as a business function with measurable performance and long-term valuation impact — not just as a sales activity. It also led to bookkeeping and fractional CFO work for small business clients who needed that perspective.

The independent adjuster license, the notary commission, and the QuickBooks ProAdvisor GOLD certification are all part of the same pattern: building a set of capabilities that serve each other, serve the people Duane works with, and reflect how the different domains of business and family planning actually connect.

Licensed in North Carolina

Preneed funeral services are NC only — the NC preneed license requires that. Insurance is licensed in both NC and SC for Life and Accident & Health, with additional lines in progress. All other services are based in NC and primarily serve the NC Triangle and Eastern NC.

Personal

Duane has lived in the greater Triangle area for over 30 years. He and his wife Angie have two daughters. He is an active member of his church and a licensed amateur radio operator (AI8U) — serving as an ARRL Volunteer Examiner, helping community members earn their amateur radio licenses at no cost.

He got into preneed because he saw what it does for families: removes a burden from the worst days of their lives, protects people they love from decisions they weren't prepared to make, and honors what they actually wanted. That's still the foundation of everything else.