It was a small moment at the end of a family dinner, the kind everyone laughs off. But for Gail, it brought back the question she’d been putting off for years. Who would handle her mom’s money if something happened? Who would talk to her doctors? And did anyone know where the papers were?
The Reason You Haven’t Signed Your Will Just Expired Somewhere in your house there’s a phone number for a lawyer. Maybe it’s a business card in a kitchen drawer, or a contact in your phone under a name you’d have to think about for a second before you placed it. Read more
You’ve Been Handling Your Parent’s Finances for Years. You May Have No Legal Authority to Do Any of It. Colette had a system. Every second Tuesday, she’d sit at her mother’s kitchen table with the mail sorted into three piles: bills to pay, statements to file, and anything from the Read more
What MAID Means for Your Estate Plan Margaret had been thinking about it for two years. After her ALS diagnosis, she’d done her research, spoken with her doctor, and made her decision. She knew the date. Her family knew the date. What nobody had gotten around to was her will. Read more
Estate Planning in Your 30s: What Nobody Told You A few weeks ago, someone in their early 30s told me she’d been meaning to sort out a will for a couple of years. She and her partner had just bought their first place. They had a dog. No kids yet. Read more
Where Estate Plans Usually Fall Short There’s a gap in most people’s estate plans, and the frustrating part is that it’s completely avoidable. The even more frustrating part is that when that gap shows up, it’s rarely the person with the incomplete plan who pays the price. It’s the people Read more
When Families Go “No Contact”: What It Means for Estate Planning In recent months, conversations about family estrangement have become more visible in mainstream media, including a widely discussed discussion hosted by Oprah Winfrey. The idea of going “no contact” with family members has sparked strong reactions. Some see it Read more
Forget New Year’s Resolutions. It’s Time for a New Year’s Revolution. As we step into 2026, many people are thinking about resolutions. Eat better. Exercise more. Spend less time scrolling. And while those intentions are well meaning, most of us know how this story goes. A few weeks in, life Read more
The Worst Estate Planning Advice of All Time In recent years, I’ve heard some of the worst estate planning advice that people have been given. Because estate planning can feel complicated, people often latch onto simple-sounding advice. Unfortunately, “simple” doesn’t always mean good. In fact, some of the worst estate Read more
DIY Estate Planning: Why “Doing It Yourself” Isn’t Always the Smartest Move I certainly understand the appeal of DIY estate planning. With online templates, how-to videos, and fill-in-the-blank legal forms, it can seem like a cost-effective, efficient way to get your affairs in order. After all, why pay for professional Read more
