When I was in elementary school, I decided to conduct a science experiment involving my dog, Sandy, and my rabbit, Cornelia.

I called it Friends or Foes.

 

Death Readiness Dispatch

June 17, 2026

Hi there,

 

When I was in elementary school, I decided to conduct a science experiment involving my dog, Sandy, and my rabbit, Cornelia.

I called it Friends or Foes.

 

Sandy was a small dog. Cornelia was a gray rabbit with a tendency to bite. My plan was simple: put them together in the family room, take lots of pictures, and determine whether they were friends or enemies.

What never occurred to me in my 10-year-old logic was that my experiment may not have been as safe as I assumed. I never contemplated that Cornelia might look more like lunch than anything else.

 

And that gap in awareness exists for a lot of people when it comes to estate planning. Most people don't deliberately create problems for the people they love. They make decisions with the best of intentions, without realizing there's an important question they never thought to ask.

 

This week, I explore one example of that gap in awareness that lead to a 14-year delay in trust distributions.

When “doing everything right” still goes wrong

Michael created a trust to avoid probate. He appointed a bank to serve as trustee because he wanted neutrality and professionalism. He thought he had a solid plan. There was just one problem. The bank declined to serve. And because there wasn't a practical backup plan in place, the assets in Michael's trust remained tied up for fourteen years.

In this episode,  I talk about:

🏦What a corporate trustee actually does,

🚫Why banks and trust companies sometimes refuse appointments,

❓The questions you should ask before naming a corporate trustee,

🧩Why avoiding probate isn't enough if no one can carry out your plan,

✅And how to make sure your estate plan works in the real world.

The question most people don't know to ask

Naming a corporate trustee in your trust agreement isn't the same thing as hiring one. Just because a bank or trust company appears in your documents doesn't mean it has agreed to accept the job. Like any business, corporate trustees have internal policies, minimums, and situations they're simply not willing to take on.

 

That's why one of the most valuable things an estate planning attorney can do isn't just draft documents. It's helping you identify the risks you didn't even know existed. The people you love shouldn't have to conduct their own “friends or foes” experiment after you're gone, trying to figure out whether the plan you left behind actually works.

Thanks for being here.

PS: If you're a Tennessee resident and you're ready to create or revisit your estate plan, I'd love to help you think through not just the documents themselves, but how they'll actually work when your family needs them most.