Executor Tools | 7-minute read
Estate Talks | Artifcts® | Ellen Goodwin

Main Link: Estate Talks Podcast: Estate Talks: Executor Tools: Artifcts® – For Cleanout, Distribution and Legacy.

Executorium Publisher George Compton is angry.  He’s angry because Artifacts^® didn’t exist when he was an executor.

As an app on your phone or on your browser, its a way to snap images, video or voice to take a record of some estate property.  Maybe it’s sentimental, maybe it’s valuable.  Maybe you need feedback from the heirs, maybe you need to record the item’s story.  Whatever it is, Artifcts enables executors to record an item, move it into discussion circles, or open it up for additional info, and move on to the next estate item.  Who wants this? what’s the story on this? We’re going to sell this…  We’re going to toss this…

Compton talks with Artifcts^® co-creator Ellen Goodwin to discuss how it can make an executor’s life easier and help with the estate task of tackling the estate stuff.

This episode of Executorium’s Estate Talks was broadcast on Wednesday, December 13, 2023.

The following transcript has been edited for readability.

EX: Welcome to Executorium’s Estate Talks. I’m George Compton. I’m the publisher of Executorium and Estate Talks is a short format executor-facing dive into estate administration challenges and today we have a guest, Ellen Goodwin, who is creator, founder, owner of an amazing tool called Artifcts. For everyone listening, I’m very jealous because when I was an executor, boy, I could have really used this and I see it just useful in the context of AD State Administration in so many ways and we’re going to get into that. “Artifcts is a platform for the digital sharing of stuff: Memories, documents, photographs, anything…”

So how’ I do with that Ellen?

EG: You did Fabulous! Our respective stories meet.

EX: OK. Good. I’m going to do a quick share of Artifcts …

This is a an Artifct. So, what you’re seeing here is something that I took with my phone. I pulled up the Artifcts app and just clicked.

 

It’s a big, big task being an executor. As you move through a mountain of tasks and challenges, keeping track of the things that are important: from family legacy to distribution of the personal property, trying your best not to forget anything, to involve the family, collaboration, and delegation – to be efficient. This tool helps you do that.

Ellen, tell us about, in the context of an estate administration, how is this sharable and how do we use it in the right way?

EG: Happy to. I think it’s important to share with folks that my co-founder, Heather, she came at this, building this company with me, from the same position that you were in right? It was post fact, and she and her brothers inherited a house full of stuff, 6,000 square feet of stuff on Cape Cod, and there had to be an efficient and productive way to get through it. Her parents, her mother, had an estate plan. It was leatherbound, beautiful, thoughtful, estate plan. We can all hope to be so lucky as executors; to be engaged even before an event and know what the plans are, know where they are, all of that. In her mother’s case, Heather’s case, she had this estate plan and there were, like, three lines about tangible assets: “Divide equally among three children.” And her brother said, “Yeah not it. Go figure it out, but don’t get rid of anything important.”

So, as the executor, for better and worse, the stuff in a home does become a burden and the question really becomes how do we get through it? [How do we] not let our emotions and the trauma of the moment get the better of us? We need to get through it, but we have to have more than efficiency and productivity, right? We have to recognize the heart, and the grief that we’re in, and how we can handle both of those. So, through Artifcts we allow people to easily snap a photo, add a few words, capture that Artifct privately and share it privately.

We’ve enabled it to be easy so you can create sharing lists, add your siblings, add any next of kin who are going to be involved in the decision whether they’re nearby or far away. They could be in another country – share it with them. You can create “Circles” on Artifcts. A Circle’s like a chat group, except instead of swapping chats, you’re swapping Artifcts. Any Artifcts that you share into the Circle, others in that Circle can see, so you can actually engage. It’s very different to say, “Hey Mom’s got these three trays. Anyone want them? You’re like, “Well I don’t know, do they come from Target or Pier 1, then probably not. But no, the trays came from Katmandu and there’s this story about a snake jumping out at you in the market when Grandma bought them. That’s very different, and it affects how we perceive the stuff.

When we work with folks we know the executors are feeling overwhelmed. Artifcts lets you bring others into the process. It helps with the guilt of, you’re not going to be able to keep it all. And that’s okay. It helps with that guilt, because you can always keep the memories, even if you’re letting go of some of the stuff. And ultimately, whether it’s next week, a few months, or a few years down the road, you can also revisit it any time. It’s going to go to one place. Not everybody can hold on to that tray, but in the end, you can always go back to the Artifct to remember it. So, this is how we’re helping people get through that process – where they can keep those memories; they don’t have to keep all the stuff. And, they can engage others in that decision process to lighten the burden.

EX: When I talk about executors, I often talk about an executor’s “team”. An executor has to share the weight, ask people to carry the burden whether they’re professional or family members, and I love the shareability. I love the circles and the sharing lists.

Sister Betty may have heard a different story about the old cabinet that you don’t know, or brother Tom may have another different story and they’re probably not the same story, but that makes it kind of fun.

The combination of all these things, as you’re going through, and it’s at that moment, [when] you’re going through estate administration, this is all very vital. It doesn’t just go into a box for 40 years. But it’s very important to capture those [thoughts] in the moment. But also, don’t let it hold you up.

So, I love that possibility for Artifcts.

EG: You hit on something there very important that I’d like to highlight too. When we share Artifcts you know what people tell us, they say, “Well I can’t just, ‘like it’, or emote you know, put a heart emoji on it, or say that’s beautiful. I want to.”

Then we ask them to go ahead share an Artifct and see what happens. So they’ll share an Artifct with a sibling, or a loved one, whomever it is, and invariably what happens? They get a text message. They get a phone call. They get an email. They get real engagement, and that’s been actually a really important observation for us, as we’ve been building this out. Privacy and security matter a lot. Human connection matters a lot. And I think people would take that phone call or text message from a loved one any day over a heart emoji.

EX: Certainly. And as these Artifcts aggregate, and you’ve got a body of, I don’t know, what do you call that… “The Legacy”?

We might say the executors are the de facto stewards of this Legacy. As an aside, I’d encourage an executor to share that responsibility, because it’s an executor’s responsibility is often just so much. This tool helps you do that, and I love it for that.

So, I think it’s definitely a time saver. It’s something that helps promote collaboration and delegation, and those are things that an executor often needs very much.

EX: So reeling it back, an Artifct is a snap [really] of information with photos and or audio or video, and then a description, and some tags. It’s a simple tool. So did I get that right? What should I add to that to paint that picture?

EG: No, it’s exactly right. you can combine photo, video and audio with a story. You can tag it. You know I have things [tags] like “attic.” Everything in my attic or storage – it has that tag attic and I can see everything I’ve put in there. If I sent a box off to somebody, I can tag it and I can see everything I put in there.

But also, you talk about the team approach, and how simple this is. It is simple. We made it as simple as a post to social media. If you can take a photo and text it to a friend, or post to Instagram, you can create an Artifct. Take that photo, click “Share”, choose our app, it’s that simple.

But what that also means, is, we’ve made it really powerful. So yes, it’s about human connection. You could just as easily share that Artifct with someone that’s helping you – on the insurance side; with an a estate attorney. You can share that Artifcts. Say, “Is it covered in the will the way I think it is?”

You can also download your entire collection that you’ve created to excel; walk through it with somebody that might be helping manage a move or someone who might be off-putting the items, donating, selling, etc. You can download your entire collection to Excel and cross-check, and make sure everything’s set. So, I think that there’s a lot of utility here to help people through this process, and as you said, bring the team in to help. You’re not alone.

EX: I’m thinking as you say download this to Excel – this could be an appraisal aid for professional appraisal, as is often necessary for the equal distribution of the personal property. One thing that comes to mind is, what are some real-life examples of things we want to Artifct Ellen?

EG: Well, it’s interesting most people will start with whatever their most cherished items are. They might be valuable, they might not. We’re really glad when people do start with some of the more valuable items, high heart value and or high financial value. Because it can cause a lot of conflict and strife if we don’t deal with that right. So when you create your Artifct, you can even put, “In the Future…”, and choose: I’m going to bequeath it, and to whom, I’m going to sell it, and when. You can put this information, but more than that you’re putting in a story that’s going to ground that. i.e. “So I was with my daughter when we were traveling in India and I bought this really cool thing”, therefore, she gets it. It’s a special connection with that daughter, right, so we’re really happy when people start with those high value items. To the family, to help decrease some of that strife, I think, that that’s one of the more important things. What do people Artifct? Starts with those items, then it becomes the every-day [items]. They’re going to be going through these things, they’re going to say, “I found a stash of letters”. Scan them. Artifct it. Share it. Now everybody has the letters, not just the one person who has the physical copies, right? So we see very quickly that because it’s so easy, people will go from those high value items, emotional or financial, into the everyday items. Do you remember this bowl was always sitting on dad’s desk and he kept XYZ in the bowl? Here it is captured with what was in it, and it’s preserved. Someone now takes it so we see that transition into a lot of the everyday items that just made up the life of a person.

Now for those of us that are going about our daily lives Artifcting usually becomes a habit. I tell people you know, I’ve taken a million pictures of my daughter swimming. There’s one that is super significant. If I don’t Artifct it I’m going to forget those details, and it’s just going to be one of a million photos. Photos are something people Artifct a lot because in this digital age we have a 100, we have a 1000, we have 50,000 in a blink of an eye. What are the stories behind them? You’re not going to remember. So I think that when you think about Artifcts, start with those items that become that road map for your loved ones. If I were to go outside and get hit by a bus today, my Artifcts collection is a road map for my loved ones with the 400-500 items I’ve Artifcted, and work your way back. Don’t worry about the rest. It is your road map, and I think that that is the best gift I can leave for my loved ones, an easy way to remember me, and a way to get through the stuff.

EX: I don’t mean to make Heather’s brother the villain here, but he’s typical of an what an executor faces: “Take care of this piece of work, but don’t screw up, don’t throw away anything important.” I see Artifcts as a tool to help prevent that.

I see Artifcts as a way of saying, you know, maybe not for the high value stuff, but for the stuff, you know, of a lower range, “Do you want this? The ice cream scoop?”
“Yes of course I want the ice cream scoop. That’s the most important thing! I want the ice cream scoop!” So, it creates a dialogue and a discussion tool. We can help keep things out of the dump which is Executorium’s secret second mission.

Executors have a very solitary charge and this helps make it a little less solitary and helps people bring in people into the fold to help with some of those decisions and, frankly, cover your butt so that you don’t throw out something that may be important, or recycle something, or give it to the wrong person or attach the wrong story to.

That said, I think stories are very important and we in previous conversations we had discussed, you know, “It’s not 2023. It’s 2043. And we all take those stories for granted, we just know them because Uncle Dave and Mom and Grandpa are still around to back us up if we lose some of it. But it’s 2043 and maybe some of those stories aren’t there anymore, and this is insurance for that. That Legacy is going to be important for some people and not as important for other people. Some of us are more sentimental than others. Every estate is different, and it is many things this tool, it’s a family storybook.

And oh and I should point out – this is not a promotion I just love this tool, and as an executor, again, as an ex-executor, I’m jealous of everybody who has this at their disposal because it will just I think make your job a lot easier.

So, do you think we covered how an executor can use this Ellen? Do you have any other Artifct ideas in the context of, “I’m in the basement going through everything?”

EG: I think executors have a hard job and you’ve pointed out time and again it doesn’t have to be as lonely as it feels. You can make a team and this can help build that team. You can share with your estate attorneys, you can share with siblings and loved ones, you can bring them in on that process, which is both functional, but also emotional.

EX: Yes well that sums it up very well Ellen. Thank you Ellen Goodwin. I’m going to end on that because I can’t say anything better than that. I want to thank you for coming on Estate Talks, and I think we just gave executors a very good tool for their toolbox to make estate administration a little less painful, and a little more fun (if that’s even possible) but I think it does accomplish that. I encourage them to check out Artifcts.

For people looking at it this today, there will be on executor’s social media pages a code for a discount so I urge you to take a look at that. Anyone else looking at any other time there, are five free Artifcts, so I , as publisher of Executorium, want you to lower these pain points and flatten the learning curve, and this tool does that in so many ways.

So Good Luck! Happy Artifcting! And Ellen Goodwin, thank you very much for sharing this so wonderful, wonderful tool with us.

EG: It’s my pleasure. Thank you for having me.

To be continued!

 

Ellen Goodwin Bio

Ellen Goodwin is the co-creator, co-founder, and co-owner, along with CEO Heather Nickerson of Artifcts^®.

Ellen holds a B.A. in Business and Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and a Masters of Public Policy from Duke University. She is a member of the Chief Executive Network for women.

Before co-founding Artifcts, Ellen served as Chief Solutions Officer of Knoema. Before joining Knoema, Ellen was an Intelligence Analyst with the Central Intelligence Agency, including serving over a year as a briefer to a cabinet-level official.

 

Disclaimer:  The opinions of Executorium’s Estate Talks hosts and Estate Talks guests are not necessarily the opinion of Executorium.com LLC, its principals, or its employees.