Friday Reading Club: How To Avoid Probate!
Highlighting the work of Norman F. Dacey, along with office hours and a new podcast
Read below to learn more about the next set of August office hours (or just sign up here if interested), and the new “un-podcast” audio series I am launching.
Video
The Book
In 1966, Norman F. Dacey made waves when he published How To Avoid Probate! Believe it or not, once upon a time the idea of using an inter vivos revocable living trust to avoid probate was considered blasphemous by some members and institutions within the legal establishment.
Mr. Dacey has since passed, but a copy of an LP he recorded was uploaded to YouTube which I have linked above. So, while I cannot interview Mr. Dacey in person for the Friday Reading Club, this recording shares his immortal words.
In listening to this recording, I was struck by the nepotism of the old systems of probate. In all but a handful of states, adoption of streamlined probate systems under the Uniform Probate Code and similar frameworks has taken the bite out of probate.
Even with this fix, however, one cannot help but project Mr. Dacey’s messages of caution onto our current estate planning systems. Around minute 40, Mr. Dacey reads the words of Professor Fred Rodell of Yale Law School to repeat what I think was a scathing condemnation of the legal profession, and while things have improved I can’t help but repeat this quote of Prof. Rodell (from his 1939 book, Woe Unto You, Lawyers!) as it relates to even our modern condition 85 years later:
“Only the law, inexorably devoted to all its most ancient principles and precedents, makes a vice of innovation and a virtue of hoariness. Only the law resists and resents the notion that it should ever change its antiquated ways to meet the challenge of a changing world. The law not only stands still, but is proud and determined to stand still.”
Why highlight materials from the 1960’s and 1930’s? In an oft-repeated-yet-misattributed quote (said to originate from George Santayana), “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
At the time of publication, the divisiveness of Mr. Dacey’s message was not solely attributable to the threat of depriving attorneys of the gravy train of probate fees. Instead, his threat to the status quo was the idea that individuals could create and administer their own estates through an inter vivos living trust. As he anecdotally notes towards the end of the interview, many attorneys at the time would refuse to draft such a trust or would even advise that such trusts were illegal. So, Mr. Dacey included forms in his book (sourced from the National Estate Planning Council).
Which leads us to now. In the interim, automated estate plan document generators are starting to eat up business from the middle market by hitting attorneys where it hurts the most – going after their classic referral source of financial advisors. But, this isn’t even close to being the death blow. We can bury our heads in the sand all we want, but AI can and will reach a point where it generates estate planning documents that pass muster. In fact, there are several services that right now are collecting and training their own AI on documents generated by attorneys nationwide in an effort to draft attorney-quality documents – all while we debate about placement of commas as a proxy for quality.
Who will be the next innovator like Norman F. Dacey who not only comes up with something new, but does so in a human-centered manner? This will be where egos have to be put aside – including my own. There are many modern-day Norman Dacey’s out there, and I plan to host them in future installments of the Friday Reading Club if they are willing. (And, if you fancy yourself an innovator in this vein, please reach out.)
For now, however, both the book above and the modern purveyors of estate tech are great at selling clients and advisors on a certain vision. So, I find it apt to perhaps sell you on a different vision.
How good would it feel to return to (or even discover, for the first time) a place of being a pure advice-giver?
Imagine a world where you could sit down and connect, on a personal level, with individuals and families to discuss those matters so sacred and important to them, untainted by the need to “sell” them on getting documents drafted.
How awesome would it be if, multiple times a day, you could lead people to a lightbulb moment – and have those same people be eager to pay your fees (which, perhaps, could be charged on a recurring basis)?
And, if this vision seems awesome, why fight it?
For now, as I have been discussing in the materials on funding the estate plan, perhaps simply creating a revocable living trust is a good first step - even if it has simple terms. Sometimes, meeting clients where they are means starting with the die-tomorrow plan, then over time developing the die-old plan.
Office Hours 2.0
Office hours are back. This time, I will be doing pure office hours. I name a standing time, and you can drop by. You might get a one-on-one session, or you might end up in a group session with others. It is just a roll of the dice.
Tentatively, I am starting (during August) with standing dates each Tuesday and Thursday from 10 am – 11 am PT, 11 am – 12 pm MT, 12 pm – 1 pm CT, and 1 pm – 2 pm ET. I will not be able to host on August 8, 15, 22, and 27. Depending on demand, I may expand office hours later.
Click here to sign up for August.
If these times do not work for you, the Tuesday-Thursday standing meeting (at the times above) is something you can plan for in September as well.
On this note, many of you are solos or part of small teams. Being in estate planning can be fairly lonely, in terms of the lack of peers to collaborate with and stress-test ideas. This is my intent with office hours - to help you know you are not alone, and possibly to connect you with other readers who join in.
The Portability “Podcast”
This introductory episode explains more of the “why” behind the podcast. But, generally, I view this as a one-way office hours replacement. There is a certain formality and decorum I have to observe within my writing and videos, to appease the establishment Mr. Dacey fought against. The podcast is my way to bring topics to you without having to gum up the works.