By Christine M. Quirk — Christine@theconcordbridge.org
Selecting a guardian for your children in the event of your death can be intimidating and emotional, and estate planning can be expensive.
A Concord mom wants to make facing some of those hard choices just a little easier.
Allie Ott’s legal tech start-up, Trustie, allows parents to pick a guardian for their children without leaving their own homes — and without hiring an attorney.
“I built this for a challenging problem I was having, and found in talking to friends and family that people need this,” Ott said. “I hope we are able to help as many families as we can to legally protect their kids.”
Ott’s daughter was born last June. As she adjusted to first-time motherhood, she knew she needed to create a will and name a guardian, but found the process daunting.
“Parents — especially new parents — are so busy and so overwhelmed they have no time or attention to do anything, never mind creating a will,” she said. “It’s so hard to think about, but it’s like insurance. It’s so important.”
When a specific guardian is not named, the court will appoint one — and that person may not be someone the parents would have chosen.
“A lot of people might not be comfortable with immediate family,” Ott said.
Baby steps to peace of mind
Ott is a law student, and in her quest to resolve the issue, she discovered that estate planning doesn’t have to be completed all at once.
“You don’t need a will or a complex estate plan to take care of your kids,” she said. “You can do so through a much easier process, and that’s guardianship designation.”
Ott has a background in tech start-ups. That and her law school experience helped inform the process.
“I got scrappy with it,” she said. “I talked to as many people as I could and put together a 1.0 product. I had some great help from professors at school to guide me.”
Trustie guides users through entering their name, children’s names, and guardian’s names. There is also a video from Ott suggesting things to consider, such as the willingness and ability of the potential caregivers to take care of the kids, their location, and their values.
Trustie then creates a document to be printed and signed by the parents and two witnesses. Ott suggested keeping multiple copies with important paperwork and providing guardians with a copy.
National aspirations
Trustie launched for Massachusetts families this spring. The service, available at www.mytrustie.com, costs $89. Ott’s goal is to make it available nationwide, but as laws differ by state, she’s starting locally.
“So far, we have had strong traffic from Massachusetts families,” she said. “We’re really excited to be getting it out there.”
Expansion is on the horizon, however, as Trustie took first prize in the Suffolk University’s Center for Entrepreneurship Pitch Competition on April 17, yielding $10,000 cash and $5,000 in in-kind services from law firm Foley & Lardner.
“We had a panel of judges with different backgrounds, 14 finalists, and three minutes to pitch,” Ott said. “It was such an exciting experience, and I was so impressed by the others, especially the freshmen.”
Ott says she’ll use the money for marketing.
“Concord’s been a great place to start,” she said. “I’ve had great mentors and female leaders, and they’ve all encouraged me to keep going. It’s definitely been a labor of love.”
