On Friday, I came home from walking the dogs and noticed a dresser sitting at the curb a few houses down. My husband and I actually needed one for our bedroom. When we moved in, our old dresser couldn’t make it around the corner and up the stairs, so it’s been living in my office ever since.

Death Readiness Dispatch

May 6, 2026

Hi there,

 

On Friday, I came home from walking the dogs and found a dresser sitting at the curb a few houses down. We actually needed one for our bedroom. 

 

I asked my husband to help me bring it in and when we got it upstairs, we noticed the manufacturer and started laughing. It was a Fisher-Price dresser that had been in a little girl’s bedroom a couple of houses away. Now it's sitting in ours. My husband spent about $80 and a little bit of time replacing the top, and it totally works. In fact, I can’t imagine a better dresser for our bedroom.

 

We kept the structure, just adapted it a little bit. And that’s exactly what this week’s Tuesday Triage episode is about.

When the “standard” plan doesn’t fit your life

This week’s question came from a young attorney questioning her firm’s very traditional estate planning structure, the kind that’s been used for decades. 

 

On paper, it checks a couple of important boxes:

 ✅Avoids probate ✅ Avoids estate taxes

But the client really wants flexibility for the surviving spouse

 

Estate planning isn’t about getting the “right” documents from a fancy law firm. It’s about whether those documents match your actual goals, your family dynamics, and the world as it exists today (not 20 years ago).

 

And the fix is surprisingly simple.

Time to Look Under the Hood

You paid for a plan.
Do you know what it does?

If the answer is “not really,” don’t wait until your family has to figure it out. In a 1-hour Estate Plan Audit, we go through your documents together so you understand what they actually do—and whether they still fit your life.

Thanks for being here.

PS: If you had to explain your estate plan to someone else today, could you? I can help with that.