Learn With Dandelion
Resources
Plain-language guidance for the decisions, documents, and details that protect the people you love.
Estate Planning
Wills, essential documents, and how to get started without the legalese.
Who Is the Testator? Confirming Who Makes a Will
The testator is the person who makes a will and whose wishes it records. In most states they must be at least 18 and of sound mind when signing, and the will should identify them by full legal name and residence.
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Are Online Wills Legit? How to Choose an Online Will Service
Yes, an online Will can be just as legally valid as one drafted in a lawyer's office. What makes a Will valid is not where it was written but whether it follows your state's rules and is signed the way your state requires. A good online service handles the first part and walks you through the second. The same is true of the other core estate documents, a Power of Attorney and a Health Directive, and the checklist below applies to all three. That still leaves the real question: which service, a
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Backup Executor: Why Name One and How to Choose
A backup executor, also called an alternate or successor executor, is the person your will names to take over if your first choice can't or won't serve. Naming one keeps the job with someone you picked. If no named executor is available, a probate court appoints someone, usually following a priority order set by state law. What is a backup executor? A backup executor is the next person in line for the executor's job. They have no role unless your first choice doesn't serve. An executor is th
Read articleGuardianship
How to choose a guardian, ask them, and document what matters.
Guardian Decision Worksheet for Parents
Choosing a guardian can get emotionally loaded pretty fast. One minute you’re responsibly “getting your affairs in order,” and the next you’re mentally ranking everyone in your phone contacts on emotional stability and likelihood of remembering the dance recital. This worksheet is designed to help you think through those decisions a little more clearly, and a little less catastrophically. You don’t need perfect answers. The goal is to surface instincts, priorities, and tradeoffs so your final c
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Common Guardian Mistakes Parents Make (and How to Avoid Them)
Choosing a guardian for your child can feel surprisingly high-pressure. Most parents approach guardianship with good intentions—and still get stuck. Not because they’re careless, but because this decision sits at the intersection of feelings, family dynamics, and uncertainty. And unfortunately, nobody hands you a clean little rubric titled: "How to choose the right person to raise your child without accidentally starting a family group chat spiral." So if you feel stuck, conflicted, or just ki
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How to Ask Someone to Be Your Child’s Guardian (And What to Say)
Deciding who you’d want as your child’s guardian is one thing. Actually asking them? That’s where many parents suddenly develop a powerful urge to reorganize the hall closet. The good news: this conversation does not need to sound like a courtroom scene or a deeply scripted emotional monologue. You’re just opening a thoughtful conversation with someone important to your family. How Do You Ask Someone to Be Your Child’s Guardian? The best way to ask someone to be your child’s guardian is hon
Read articleWills
What a Will does, what to include, and how to leave clear instructions.
Who Is the Testator? Confirming Who Makes a Will
The testator is the person who makes a will and whose wishes it records. In most states they must be at least 18 and of sound mind when signing, and the will should identify them by full legal name and residence.
Read articleAre Online Wills Legit? How to Choose an Online Will Service
Yes, an online Will can be just as legally valid as one drafted in a lawyer's office. What makes a Will valid is not where it was written but whether it follows your state's rules and is signed the way your state requires. A good online service handles the first part and walks you through the second. The same is true of the other core estate documents, a Power of Attorney and a Health Directive, and the checklist below applies to all three. That still leaves the real question: which service, a
Read articleBackup Executor: Why Name One and How to Choose
A backup executor, also called an alternate or successor executor, is the person your will names to take over if your first choice can't or won't serve. Naming one keeps the job with someone you picked. If no named executor is available, a probate court appoints someone, usually following a priority order set by state law. What is a backup executor? A backup executor is the next person in line for the executor's job. They have no role unless your first choice doesn't serve. An executor is th
Read articlePower of Attorney
How to choose someone you trust to handle financial or medical decisions.
Advance Directives
How to document medical wishes and choose someone to speak for you.
Probate
What probate is, how it works, and how families can prepare for it.
Legacy Planning
The wishes, stories, and practical details worth passing on.
Final Wishes: The Decisions Your Family Shouldn't Have to Guess
If you're like most people, you don't spend much time thinking about your own funeral. Burial or cremation, what kind of service, what song plays. It's tempting to assume none of it matters much to you. Here's the part most people miss: it doesn't have to matter to you for it to matter. If you don't decide, your family will have to. And they'll be doing it in the middle of the worst week of their year, often within 48 hours, often guessing at what you would have wanted. Every choice you write
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The Dandelion 'Get Ready' Checklist
If something happened to you tomorrow, someone else would need to keep your household running: pick up the kids, feed the dog, pay the mortgage. Most families haven't written any of this down. This checklist covers the practical, findable information a family needs first, before any legal paperwork comes into play. What is a "Get Ready" checklist? A get ready checklist is a short list of practical, everyday information, not legal documents, that lets someone else step in and keep a household
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Three Digital Settings That Take Ten Minutes and Will Save Your Family a Lot of Frustration
Your Apple, Google, and Meta accounts are locked by default. Here's how to change that. Most of what goes into preparing for the ‘what if’s’ involves real thinking—who gets what, what you want, what you believe. These three things don't. They're settings. Buried inside apps you use every day to name a trusted person who can access your digital accounts if you can’t. Without them, your family has no official way to access your Apple, Google, and Meta accounts. They just sit there, locked. Indef
Read articleAfter a Loss
Practical next steps, important paperwork, and gentle guidance for the days after someone dies.
