The Death Readiness Playbook
A practical guide for organizing your life, your information, and your intentions—built on legal insight and real-world experience—so the people you love aren’t left guessing.
Most people think they’re “prepared” because they have documents.
In reality, what families need in a crisis is information, context, and clarity.
The Death Readiness Playbook brings together the practical details of your life, expert insight on complex legal topics, and the personal choices that give meaning to it all. If something unexpected happens, your people have answers instead of a scavenger hunt.
This Playbook isn’t about being morbid.
It’s about being thoughtful, prepared, and generous.
Who This Is For
The Death Readiness Playbook is for you if:
You’re juggling kids, parents, work, and caregiving
You’ve done some planning, but it’s scattered across portals, drawers, and memory
You’re the person who quietly holds the mental load of your household
You want to make things easier for your spouse, children, or caregivers
You care not just about what happens to your assets, but how your people experience a crisis
You don’t need to be facing a diagnosis or emergency to use this.
In fact, it works best before one.
What Makes This Playbook Different
The Death Readiness Playbook is not just a workbook for after you’re gone.
It’s a living guide that helps you think through:
how your life actually works
what decisions matter most
and how to communicate those choices clearly
Along the way, it weaves together:
expert insight from more than a decade of legal experience in trusts and estates
real-world guidance on issues families regularly get wrong
personal reflection that helps your values show up in the details
This is where logistics meet meaning.
What This Playbook Is (and Isn’t)
This Playbook is:
A guided system you actively fill out and revisit
Written in plain English, grounded in real life
Informed by legal expertise and lived experience
Designed to be used during life, not just after death
This Playbook is not:
A stack of legal forms
A generic “end-of-life checklist”
This is about continuity, not perfection.
What’s Inside
The Death Readiness Playbook helps someone step into your life, temporarily or permanently, without guessing.
📚 Expert Insight & Big-Picture Planning
Plain-English explanations of Wills, trusts, and fiduciary roles
Guidance on naming executors, trustees, and guardians, and what those roles actually involve
Real examples of language that creates clarity (and language that creates problems)
Insight into special needs trusts, why they matter, and when they’re essential
Thoughtful guidance on transferring vacation or family homes without creating conflict
Context to help you understand why certain decisions matter
Each section includes why it matters, how to fill it out, common mistakes, and pro tips—so you’re never wondering if you’re doing it “right.”
🗂️ The Dossier
Where important documents live
Who to contact in an emergency
Key professional relationships
🏠 Household & Infrastructure
How bills get paid and when
Service providers, access codes, routines
What actually keeps your home functioning
🧠 The Mental Load
The invisible work you’ve been doing quietly for years
The “obvious” things no one else would know to do
👩👧 Parenting, Caregiving & Dependents
Routines, preferences, medical information and logistics
Information that helps others show up with stability and compassion
Guidance for children or loved ones who need extra support
🐾 Pets
Feeding, medications, quirks, and triggers
The details no vet record will ever capture
💻 Digital & Financial Access
Where key accounts live
What someone needs to responsibly manage your affairs
🕊️ Legacy, Story & Personal Wishes
How to write an obituary that actually sounds like you
How to think about funeral and memorial preferences
Space to document what matters to you
Why This Matters
In a crisis, families aren’t just grieving.
They’re also trying to:
pay bills
access accounts
care for children, pets, and aging parents
make decisions with incomplete information
That’s when confusion turns into stress, resentment, and conflict.
This Playbook exists to reduce that burden, not by predicting the future, but by making sure no one is left in the dark.
Why I Created This
I spent more than a decade as a trusts and estates attorney, working with families after a death, during conflict, or when a plan suddenly had to work in real life.
I saw beautifully drafted documents.
And I saw families struggle because the practical and personal pieces hadn’t been talked through.
The Death Readiness Playbook is the resource I wish every family had before they needed it.
How to Use It
Go at your own pace
Skip sections and come back later
Update it as life changes
Share it with the people who matter
Done is better than perfect.
This is meant to support you, not test you.
The Death Readiness Playbook is available now.
If you want your people to have answers instead of a scavenger hunt, this is for you.