The Death Readiness Podcast: Not your dad’s estate planning podcast
You’re the one prepping for your child’s IEP meeting while trying to talk your aging dad out of getting a puppy. You’re booking medical appointments, managing the money, juggling work emails during school pickup and still expected to keep the fridge stocked and know who has practice, rehearsal, or a field trip tomorrow.
Your parents are struggling, but they still insist they’re fine. You see the mobility issues, the memory slips, the unopened mail, but every offer to help feels like an argument. You’re scared to push. You’re scared to wait. And there’s no clear roadmap for how to do any of this without losing your mind or your family.
Hosted by Jill Mastroianni, a former estate planning attorney turned trusted guide for women holding it all together, this podcast is your space to untangle the mess. With more than a decade of legal experience, Jill brings clarity to the hardest conversations most families avoid until it’s too late.
Each episode offers honest stories, practical tools, and bite-sized steps you can actually take, even if you’re overwhelmed, even if you’re grieving, even if you’re still waiting for your mom to give you the password to the computer. You don’t need a perfect plan. You just need a place to start.
Death readiness isn’t about control. It’s about love and the courage to face what’s next with open eyes and a steady hand.
- Update frequency
- every 8 days
- Average duration
- 39 minutes
- Episodes
- 31
- Years Active
- 2025
Why an Innocent Woman Spent 27 Years in Prison
Imagine spending 27 years in prison for a crime you didn’t commit. That was the reality for Joyce Watkins, a woman wrongfully convicted in 1989 of the rape and murder of her four-year-old great-niece…
Why Your Business Needs an Estate Plan, Too
Whether you’re a solopreneur, a small-business owner, or running a growing team, your business needs an estate plan. In this episode of Tuesday Triage, Jill walks through the practical steps to prote…
How to Protect Your Aging Parents and Avoid Probate Court
Guardianship. Probate court. Powers of attorney. These terms can feel intimidating but they don’t have to be. In this episode, Jill Mastroianni breaks down the differences between powers of attorney …
What Really Happens with DIY Wills and other Lessons from the Bench
Jill talks with Judge Andra Hedrick, the first female probate court judge in Davidson County, Tennessee, to pull back the curtain on what really happens when DIY wills, internet forms, and quick-fix …
Why Banks Reject Powers of Attorney for Trust Accounts
In this Tuesday Triage episode, Jill unpacks a common source of frustration for families: why a power of attorney works for some accounts but fails when it comes to trust assets. Using listener Linds…
Why Naming the Caregiver Adult Child (instead of your Spouse with Dementia) as Beneficiary of your IRA Can Backfire
In this Tuesday Triage episode, Jill answers a listener question from Molly in Washington, whose father is considering naming her as the beneficiary of his IRA to help care for her mother, who has de…
How One Boy Survived Auschwitz and Found His Dog
Jill speaks with Kari Alterman about the extraordinary life of her father, Emery Grosinger, a Holocaust survivor who lost his parents and his home in the Holocaust. Born in a small village in Hungary…
What Happens When a Pregnant Woman Is Declared Brain Dead?
When a woman is declared brain dead, but still pregnant, who decides what happens next? And what if she made her wishes clear, but the law says they don’t matter?
Jill explores the tragic case of Adri…
What Every Parent Needs to Know When Their Child Turns 18
Your child becomes a legal adult at 18, but what if something happens, and they can’t speak for themselves? Would you be allowed in the room? Would you know what they’d want?
In this episode, Jill sha…
Why Prenups Aren't Just for the Rich (or the Divorcing)
What if a prenup could actually strengthen your relationship?
In this episode, family dynamics coach Emily Bouchard joins Jill Mastroianni to challenge the stigma around prenuptial agreements. They ex…
What You Need to Know About Medicaid and Protecting Your Mom’s House
Are you worried that the government might “take the house” if your parent ever needs nursing home care? A listener named Eileen is facing this exact question, and her son-in-law thinks a trust is the…
Why You Need (or Don't Need) a Trust
Most of us don’t understand what a trust is or what it does. In this bite-sized Tuesday Triage episode, Jill breaks it down in plain language: what a revocable trust is, what it can and can’t do, and…
What to Do with a Dead Body, Who’s in Charge, and Who Pays
What do you actually do when someone dies? Call 911, the coroner, or Google “funeral homes near me”? In this episode, director of pre-planning at Feldman Mortuary in Denver, Colorado, Jamie Sarche, r…
How Powers of Attorney Work, When to Use Them, and When It’s Too Late to Get One
Your parent’s health is declining. The bills keep piling up. Are you legally allowed to step in? In this first Tuesday Triage episode, Jill explains how powers of attorney really work, who can use th…
How to Prevent your Estate Plan from Becoming a Family Battlefield
What happens when no one agrees on who should manage a loved one’s care—or their money? Jill talks with Sara Ecklein, a professional fiduciary in California, to talk about what goes wrong when we don…
How our favorite movies trained us to accept less
What if the movies we loved growing up were quietly teaching us to settle for less credit, less rest, and less power? In this episode, Jill Mastroianni unpacks the messages in movies like Groundhog D…
How to Succeed in the Caregiving Role No One Trained You For
Caregiving isn’t side work - it’s a leadership position. Host Jill Mastroianni talks with Jennifer O’Brien, author of Care Boss and The Hospice Doctor’s Widow, about the emotional labor, strategic th…
What You Need to Know About Embalming, Cremation, and Eco-Friendly Funerals
What happens to your body after you die—and who decides? Jill sits down with Jamie Sarche, Director of Pre-arranged Funeral Planning, at Feldman Mortuary, to explore embalming, cremation (both fire a…
Why Talking About Your Parent's Death Can’t Wait
As a daughter, a sister to a brother with special needs, and a mother herself, Jill Mastroianni knows firsthand what it feels like to carry the weight of future planning. This episode offers an intim…
Start Your Own Family Podcast with these Simple Steps
In this special episode, we step away from legal mechanics and into something deeply personal: the power of capturing family stories. Jill and her daughter April share an episode from their private f…