Create a better life (and death) with
The Death Readiness Podcast
You’re prepping for your kid’s IEP meeting while trying to convince your 82-year-old dad not to adopt a puppy. You’re managing your parents’ prescriptions, your family’s passwords, and your own rising panic, while still being the one who remembers field trip forms and what’s for dinner.
If you’re carrying the weight of everyone else’s future, this podcast is for you.
Hosted by Jill Mastroianni, a former estate planning attorney turned realist guide, each episode offers straight talk, legal insights, and no-nonsense steps to get your (and your parents’) estate plan out of the “someday” pile before it’s too late.
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Episode 52: Why Housing Security Gets Overlooked in Blended Families
Episode 51: How a Poet Helped Me Face What I Feared
Episode 50: How to write your own Will (and why you shouldn’t)
Episode 49: How to Keep Your Ex Out of Your Estate Plan
Episode 48: Why Your Teen’s Brain Can’t Outrun the Algorithm
Episode 47: How to Stop the Family Camp from Splitting Siblings
Episode 46: How to Give Money Without Triggering Gift Tax
Episode 45: Can you Inherit from Someone You Killed (or Tried to Kill)?
Episode 44: Avoiding the Hidden Tax Trap in Lifetime Gifts
Episode 43: How Hosting This Podcast Taught Me to Face Grief
Episode 42: How to Talk to Your Parents About Getting Help at Home
Episode 41: Why Losing Your Original Will Could Cost Your Family Everything
Episode 40: Can You Leave Money to Your Dog?
Episode 39: Why Jane Goodall’s Lessons Matter More Than Ever
Episode 38: Why You Need (or Don't Need) a Will
Episode 37: Why You Don’t Have to Take the Executor Job
Episode 36: When Transfer-on-Death Deeds Promise to Avoid Probate but Create Chaos
Episode 35: Why Your Old Will Might Leave Out Your New Baby
Episode 34: How Small Gaps in Your Will Become Big Problems
Episode 33: Why Your Aging Parents Aren’t Planning and How to Change It
Episode 32: 6 Steps to Finding the Right Estate Planning Attorney for Your Situation
Episode 31: Why Medical Aid in Dying and Assisted Suicide are not the same thing
Episode 30: Why an Innocent Woman Spent 27 Years in Prison
Episode 29: Why Your Business Needs an Estate Plan, Too
Episode 28: How to Protect Your Aging Parents and Avoid Probate Court
Episode 27: What Really Happens with DIY Wills and other Lessons from the Bench
Episode 26: Why Banks Reject Powers of Attorney for Trust Accounts
Episode 25: Why Naming the Caregiver Adult Child as Beneficiary of your IRA Can Backfire
Episode 24: How One Boy Survived Auschwitz and Found His Dog
Episode 23: What Happens When a Pregnant Woman Is Declared Brain Dead?
Episode 22: What Every Parent Needs to Know When Their Child Turns 18
Episode 21: Why Prenups Aren’t Just for the Rich (or the Divorcing)
Episode 20: What You Need to Know About Medicaid and Protecting Your Mom’s House
Episode 19: Why You Need (or Don't Need) a Trust
Episode 18: What to Do with a Dead Body, Who’s in Charge, and Who Pays
Episode 17: How Powers of Attorney Work, When to Use Them, and When It’s Too Late to Get One
Episode 16: How to Prevent your Estate Plan from Becoming a Family Battlefield
Episode 15: How Our Favorite Movies Trained Us to Accept Less
Episode 14: How to Succeed in the Caregiving Role No One Trained You For
Episode 13: What You Need to Know About Embalming, Cremation, and Eco-Friendly Funerals
Episode 12: Why Talking About Your Parent's Death Can’t Wait
Episode 11: Start Your Own Family Podcast with these Simple Steps
Episode 10: How to Start the Senior Care Conversation
Episode 9: How to Choose the Right Special Needs Estate Planning Team
Episode 8: A Parents’ Guide to Special Needs Estate Planning
Episode 7: What it Takes to Raise a Child with Special Needs
Episode 6: What to Know Before Choosing an Executor or Agreeing to Serve as One
Episode 5: Why You Shouldn’t Worry About the Estate Tax
Episode 4: How to Talk to Your Parents about Death
Episode 3: What Probate Really Means and How to Avoid It
Episode 2: How to Organize and Preserve Your Legacy
Episode 1: The Real Cost of Dying without an Estate Plan
