The Relative Ease newsroom
Reporting and plain-English guides on wills, digital accounts, probate, and the paperwork of being prepared.
Willful's Great Delay 2026 report, released November 2, found Canada's sandwich generation — adults with a living parent and a child — completed more financial to-dos than anyone (81%) yet 65% have no will, and U.S. data from Trust & Will shows the same gap, with 62% of Gen X holding no estate documents at all. Why the people caring for everyone else keep putting their own plan last, and what to finish first.
NFDA's 2026 Cremation & Burial Report, released October 28, projects cremation at 64.3% of U.S. dispositions in 2026, with convenience and simplicity (43.3%) passing cost (34.4%) as the top reason — and services moving to banquet halls, outdoor settings, and celebrants. Why "just cremate me" still leaves families guessing, and the page of decisions to write down instead.
California's new Legacy Fulfillment Act, signed in September and effective January 1, 2027, requires firms to make a good-faith effort to notify transfer-on-death beneficiaries within 60 days of learning of a death — a duty that, in most states, still does not exist.
A Colorado law effective August 12, 2026 changed what happens to homes bought with community property when the first spouse dies — and a $15 million federal exemption does not fix an outdated plan. Why movers need a review this Awareness Week.
Delaware's transfer-on-death deed law is weeks old and untested in court. Estates attorney Kathleen DeLacy explains why the state acted, the misunderstanding she sees most, and why a TOD deed is no substitute for a real plan.
Knowing a password is not the same as being legally allowed into an account. Kleinbard trusts and estates chair Jennifer Zegel explains what families face after a death, how RUFADAA works in practice, and the 15-minute inventory that prevents most of it.
Maryland spent October 1 expanding one of the simplest ideas in estate planning: name a beneficiary in advance, and that asset passes directly to that person when you die, outside…
For years, naming who gets your bank account when you die has been simple: fill out a beneficiary form. Naming who gets your house has not. The house usually had to go…
Somebody paid premiums on those policies, sometimes for decades. Somebody chose a beneficiary, signed the forms, and put the paperwork in a drawer. And then, in case…
October 19 through 25 is National Estate Planning Awareness Week. It has been on the calendar for eighteen years, it exists because Congress put it there, and if the…
Ask a room of adults whether having a will matters and most hands go up. Ask how many actually have one and the room gets quiet. That's the consistent finding of the…
Picture a household that runs the way most households run. One person handles the money: the bank logins, the investment accounts, the bills on autopay. The family…
Here's a scenario that plays out in probate courts and HR departments every year. A man dies. His will, updated carefully after his divorce, leaves everything to his…
Probate has a reputation problem. Half the advice out there treats it like a catastrophe to be avoided at any cost; the other half shrugs it off. The truth is less…
If you're ever brought into an emergency room unable to speak for yourself, nobody at that hospital will ask for your will. It couldn't help if they did. A will takes…
For most of American history, a will was a piece of paper, signed in ink, in a room with witnesses. A house passed to your kids only after a court said so. That world is…
Think about what your email account actually is. It's where your bank sends password resets — where the keys to your photo library, tax documents, medical portals, and a…
Ask a room of adults whether they want to be buried or cremated, and most of them have an answer — often a strong one. Ask how many have written that answer down…
