The one thing that is 100 percent guaranteed in life is the thing humans avoid talking about the most: death.
As a society, people tend to ignore the inevitable in hopes that it will never happen. But loss and grief is very real—and with them come a whole lot more mundane concerns as well.
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Robin Huffman lost her mother in 2001. When she passed, her mother had everything lined up: funeral plans, administrative duties, documented beneficiaries. Huffman could properly grieve her mother, without the burden of hunting down everything needed for end-of-life tasks, which is estimated to entail more than 400 hours worth of work.
Many years later, Huffman became a certified death doula, someone who helps a dying person and their family prepare for death. But she remembered her experience with her mother, and with her administrative background from working nearly two decades at a local major financial services company, decided to start The Mortality Mentor.
Her company helps with all services after the loss of a loved one, things most people never even consider, including cutting off utilities, notifying credit bureaus, canceling prescription refills, forwarding mail, addressing cell phone contracts, notifying the DMV, providing referrals, and coordinating with other professionals as needed.
Huffman offers packages to help with estate organization before death to ensure all affairs are in order and estate administration support after a loss.
“On the surface, people think, ‘Oh, I can do this on my own.’ And these people certainly are capable. But I think people forget when they’re in the moment that grief brain is a real thing,” Huffman says. “It’s one of those things just to take the weight off people when they’re paralyzed or unsure what to do after a death, just to have that extra support.”
A report completed by Trust and Will found that 56 percent of U.S. adults have no estate planning documents, no will, trust, medical or financial power of attorney, or HIPAA authorization. Meaning, when a family member suddenly passes away, the family is left scrambling to sort through it all.
Huffman joined a national organization called PALS, an acronym for Professionals of After Loss Services, to connect with other professionals in what’s known as the “after-loss space.”
Jasmine Hathaway is a co-founder at PALS, and explained that individuals or companies with services related to death become members of PALS to build community and learn about ways to better help people who have lost a loved one. They currently have 104 members working with them in the after-loss space.
“PALS was formed out of a desire to support and elevate community over competition and really just try to do what little we can to have some kind of positive impact on the space that we felt like nobody was talking about,” Hathaway says.
“In my personal experience, losing my husband, Allan, in 2015 I was 30 years old. I had definitely never had any conversations with anybody about what estate administration was,” Hathaway explains. “I didn’t even know what an estate was. I thought that was a chateau in France—like, I really was flying totally blind.”
This is true for 42 percent of Americans, who say they wouldn’t know what to do if a loved one died today.
“An after-loss professional can come alongside their client and say, okay, I can see with clear eyes here what is true, and explain what the most important thing for you to focus on right now and which things can wait,” Hathaway says.
With a large aging population, demand for trust and estate services similar to Huffman’s is on the rise.
The National Law Review reports that the estate administrative services market is predicted to expand over the coming years, reaching a value of $23.79 billion in 2029.
