Before I get into this week’s episode, I wanted to share a small update about the podcast schedule. As many of you know, I recently started practicing law again, and it’s been wonderful to be back in it. Because I’m spending a bit more time running the practice, I’m making a small change to the podcast schedule.

Death Readiness Dispatch

March 11, 2026

Hi there,

 

Before I get into this week’s episode, I want to share a small update about the podcast schedule. As many of you know, I recently started practicing law again, and it’s been wonderful to be back in it. Since I’m spending a bit more time running the practice, I’m making a small change to the podcast schedule.

 

Tuesday Triage episodes will continue every week. These short episodes where I answer real questions have become one of my favorite parts of the podcast.

 

The Friday episodes will shift to occasional bonus episodes rather than appearing every other week. I’ll still record them when there’s a topic I want to explore more deeply, or when there’s a guest I’m excited to talk with.

 

Thank you for continuing to listen. I love making this podcast, and I’m grateful that you’re here.

Now, onto this week’s question. Many families believe that once a trust is signed, the estate plan is finished. But that’s not actually true.

One of the most common complaints I hear is: “My parents paid thousands of dollars for a trust… but the attorney never funded it.” This week, I explain why that situation happens so often, and why it can create serious financial and emotional consequences for families.

 

Here’s the key concept: A trust is just a written agreement. It only controls the assets that are actually transferred into it. If bank accounts, investment accounts, or real estate remain titled in someone’s individual name, the trust has no authority over them at all. And when that step gets skipped, two things tend to happen.

 

First, the financial consequences can be enormous. In some states, probate fees are based on the gross value of the estate. For a $10 million estate in California, statutory probate fees alone can reach $226,000. That’s money many families thought they had already planned to avoid.

 

Second, and this is the part we don’t talk about enough, the burden shifts to the adult children. Instead of the estate plan making life easier, the children end up spending hours on the phone with banks, insurance companies, and financial institutions trying to untangle accounts that were never aligned with the trust. In other words, the estate plan exists on paper but not in practice.

Two People Who Help Turn Plans Into Reality

There are two professionals I trust who help families with the practical side of making estate plans work. They didn’t ask me to mention them and I’m not paid for referrals—I’m sharing their names because I trust their work.

 

Mollie Lacher, founder of Sunny Care Services, helps families with the administrative work involved in funding trusts and organizing the practical details that often get overlooked. She was also a guest on one of the podcast’s earliest episodes, What to Know Before Choosing an Executor or Agreeing to Serve as One.

 

And Blair Martin, a financial advisor at RW Baird, helps clients simplify their financial lives by consolidating accounts and creating systems that make it easier for families to step in and help when needed.

 

Both play an important role in helping families move from having an estate plan on paper to having an estate plan that actually works in real life.

Check out the full episode to learn:

• What “funding a trust” actually means

• Who is typically responsible for doing it

• Why many attorneys don’t handle the administrative work, and

• How families can avoid leaving their adult children with a complicated mess to untangle

 

Good estate planning should make life easier for the people you love.

A Bittersweet Weekend 

On a completely different note, this weekend is a big one in our house. We’re taking, our foster puppy, Boots, to an adoption event, which means there’s a very good chance she’ll meet the person who becomes her forever home.

 

We’ve spent weeks caring for little Boots, learning all of her quirks, figuring out what makes her happy, what scares her, and what makes her feel safe. All this time, we’ve been preparing her for a life we won’t actually get to see. It’s bittersweet and I’m definitely going to cry.

 

But, I realized something that connects surprisingly well to estate planning. Preparing Boots for adoption means sending her to her new family with everything they’ll need to take good care of her. You better believe I’m sending her off with this completed worksheet with all the things we know and love about her.

 

Good transitions don’t happen by accident. They happen when someone takes the time to prepare the next person. That’s true for puppies, and it’s just as true for the people we love.

Thanks for being here.