Memento Mori Minute by Doug Harvey

The stuff that has your clients calling you first. (I can be second. That's fine. This is fine.)

Every Tuesday, I attempt to give my advisor friends one estate planning concept explained plainly, one thing to say to clients, one reason to pick up the phone, and something worth thinking about on the drive home.

Latest

Jul 7, 2026

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4 min read

Portability: Free Money, with Some Gotchas (Part I)

This Week: Why Free Money Still Requires a Form, What Remarriage Does to a Ported Exemption, Everything Portability Doesn't Cover, and a Steal This Line for Each Person Who'll Tell You It's Fine

Doug Harvey

Jun 23, 2026

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3 min read

Estate Planning Has a Death Problem

This Week: The Document That Handles the Years Before Death, a Question for the Client Who Forgets They'll Be Alive First, and Four Triggers Before Incapacity Tests the Plan

Doug Harvey

Jun 16, 2026

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3 min read

Cost Basis at Death: Step Up, Step Down, Double Up, or Nothing at All

This Week: Three Rules About Cost Basis at Death, a Line for the Client About to Make a Gifting Mistake, and Four Triggers for Appreciated Assets

Doug Harvey

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“This is what I'd tell you if we grabbed coffee and you asked me what advisors need to know about estate planning (minus the overpriced coffee).”

Doug Harvey - Estate Planning Attorney
The Blum Firm, PC
Fort Worth - Dallas - Austin

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