Introducing the "Book of the Dead": A Guide for the Living
Inspired by the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, this modern legal guide serves as a step-by-step handbook for navigating your final departure and empowering your family
The Ghost in the Machine: Confessions of an Estate Planning Attorney
I've spent three decades watching people nod politely in my office, clutching their freshly printed estate plans like protective talismans. They smile, shake my hand, tuck these precious documents away in some drawer, and... nothing. Absolutely nothing happens after that. It's like watching the same play over and over, knowing the ending will always disappoint.
God, the number of times I've gotten that call. You know the one - "Dad died six months ago, and we just found this trust in his filing cabinet..." And my heart sinks, because I already know what comes next. The trust is empty. A hollow shell. All those careful plans we made, reduced to expensive scratch paper because nobody did the funding. Or worse - they picked cousin Eddie to be trustee because "he's good with money" (read: he day trades crypto and once read half of Rich Dad, Poor Dad).
The Law Has Requirements. They Must Be Met.
Here's the thing nobody tells you about estate planning: it's not about the documents. Never was. It's about the people. The execution. The follow-through. And humans? We're terribly, wonderfully, hopelessly flawed at follow-through.
That's why I started building software. Because after thirty years of watching beautiful legal plans crash and burn on the rocky shores of human nature, I realized something had to change. We needed to make these documents smart. Active. Alive.
The Electronic Frontier: States Leading the Charge
The future is already here, just unevenly distributed. As of 2024, several states have embraced electronic wills:
Nevada (the pioneer, since 2017)
Indiana (2018)
Arizona (2019)
Florida (2020)
Utah (2020)
Colorado (2021)
Washington (2021)
Idaho (2022)
Minnesota (2023)
What if Paper Became Sentient?
Each time a document gets signed electronically, it transforms from dead paper into living code. And code? Code can do anything. It can monitor property records, detect deaths through Social Security's Death Master File, automatically notify beneficiaries, even initiate probate filings.
Imagine it: A trust that knows when assets move in or out of its grasp. A will that pings the executor every quarter with a checklist of what needs updating. A power of attorney that automatically activates when medical records show cognitive decline. The technology exists - we just need to bridge the gap between legal documentation and digital automation.
The Human Element (For Now)
But we're not quite there yet. The infrastructure is still building, the laws still evolving. So for now, we do it the old-fashioned way - we teach, we guide, we prepare. That's why I wrote the Book of the Dead (and yes, my marketing team begged me to change that name. I refused).
It's a roadmap for the living, really. A step-by-step guide for those brave souls who take on the mantle of personal representative or trustee. Because until our documents become truly smart, truly alive, we need humans who understand what to do when death comes calling.
The irony doesn't escape me - here I am, writing another document to solve the problem of people not reading documents. But maybe, just maybe, by acknowledging our very human limitations, by planning for our tendency to procrastinate and forget, we can build better systems. Systems that work with our nature rather than against it.
When Death Comes Knocking (And Trust Me, It Will)
Look, I get it. Nobody wants to think about death, much less plan for it. We're all immortal until we're not, right? But here's the thing - I've spent 30 years watching families implode because nobody knew what to do when the inevitable happened. The fights over mom's wedding ring, the missed deadlines for probate, the absolute chaos that ensues when grief meets legal responsibility.
That's why I wrote the Book of the Dead (and yes, my risk management team had kittens over that title, but sometimes you just have to lean into the darkness). To make it easier, you can download an abbreviated version of the Book of the dead. By abbreviated, I mean it is 23 pages long. Here you go!
"The best time to plan for death was 20 years ago. The second best time is now."
Ancient Estate Planning Proverb (that I just made up)
What You'll Get (Besides Peace of Mind)
A step-by-step guide that actually makes sense (written by a human, for humans)
Checklists that walk you through everything from "Oh God, what do I do first?" to "Finally, it's finished"
Real-world examples from three decades of watching people get this wrong (so you don't have to)
Templates for all those awkward conversations you need to have but don't know how to start