07 Apr It Is Time.

I can’t help but hear this without it being in the voice of James Earl Jones as Simba’s dad.

For years, I blogged about estate planning for funsies… (nerd alert). When I started, I was a brand new lawyer, just recovering from taking the bar exam and starting my first job as a law clerk in Austin, Minnesota. The main reason I started was as a way for me to dig into what we in the legal world call estate planning and probate law.

Most blawgs (get it? blogs about legal topics. it’s what the actual term is. look. I didn’t come up with it, okay…) are meant strictly for legal professionals. My first “blawg” was meant for the regular person. The person with no legal background, who suddenly found themselves… maybe for the first time ever, needing to understand basic legal concepts. That’s a pretty handy audience for a new lawyer looking to be an expert. This blog is still for that audience.

In over the ten years of being a lawyer, the audience isn’t just the convenient one, but the audience of urgency. I’ve seen firsthand the stress, frustration, and even heartache of having to pick up the legal pieces after someone dies. Unfortunately, outside of spending three years in law school, there are few opportunities for most people to learn the basics of the legal issues that come up when you die. Without that understanding, it’s hard to effectively organize your affairs. And, when you don’t, you leave a longer to-do list for grieving people. This blog is another way for me to get that word out.

It’s been almost four years since I last blogged. In that time, I went from a mom of two, to a mom of four. I went from a co-owner of a law office with three locations, to an associate with a long-established firm where I can focus on my passion of fighting death in my own way through addressing and, when I work with people ahead of time, minimizing the legal chaos death causes.

But, this blog is also meant for the professional. The professional who, like me, is frustrated by simply slapping a document on their client and hoping for the best. The professional who sees themselves as partners with their client. The professional who needs resources in normal language.

Welcome to the reboot. I hope you’ll find it helpful.