
Provided
Brooke Hipps, right, and her late sister, Brady.
It was at the collision of two defining moments that entrepreneur Brooke Hipps found her life’s calling.
One was the sudden death of her sister, Brady Kent. It was an experience she would gladly give back to fate to spare her and her family the loss, grief, and complications that followed. The other was as a student in TCU’s Executive MBA program.
The class assignment for her innovation class, taught by Daniel Pullin, now TCU president and only weeks away from becoming the school’s chancellor, was to identify a pain point in the marketplace for consumers and to craft and execute an innovation to make it better.
“She was so fresh on my mind. She's on my mind every day,” says Hipps from her office on the Near Southside. “And I just thought, ‘She passed away without a will.’ That was a nightmare. And so that was the assignment. And that was it. Why didn’t she have a will? Why don’t I have a will?”
First and foremost, for many, is expense. Too often, the assumption that wills are for only the wealthy with lots of assets wins the day.
Yet, without a will, the courts — not your loved ones — will decide what happens next.
A last will and testament is less about how much you leave behind than how you leave it.
And it might simply be carrying out your wishes on what to do with you — traditional burial, cremation, or perhaps science. But if you have children — especially children who are minors who need guardians in your stead — a car, a bank account, a family heirloom, or even want to leave a message to your loved ones, you have something worth protecting.
If Hipps has one message, it’s that estate planning isn't a luxury. It's a basic act of care and control. It’s a love letter, says Hipps, who has entered the marketplace to ensure that everyone has access to that right, no matter their income or socioeconomic status.
Hipps is the founder of Weekend Will, an online platform that provides affordable and accessible will-writing services.
“If my sister had had a will, navigating that experience after she passed would not have been so difficult,” says Hipps. “I came to see just how unprepared most people are, what that really means for them and their families, and how much peace of mind a simple plan can bring.”
With her sister, the family didn’t know if she wanted to be buried and, if so, where. “It just starts becoming, like, ‘Oh, God, I really have no idea what to do here,'” Hipps says.
Hipps is not breaking new ground. There are other online services, but Weekend Will's price point — $129 — might be the most competitive. That includes unlimited updates. If you get married — or divorced — or otherwise have any change of status or assets, you can go update your will at no charge. Users can even upload photos to illustrate, for example, an item or items laid out in the will, such as a ring or table.
That price point is a bargain considering the implications of passing without one, starting with the cost of probate.
Hipps also believes she can improve accessibility by encouraging companies to offer Weekend Will as an employee benefit. The last time I spoke with her she already had one onboard — Red Stag trucking company in Cresson. Trucking is but one example of an industry whose workers are at increased risk and need protecting.
A professor at TCU, Patrick Crocker, served as a consultant for the project. Weekend Will’s documents are designed with everything required by the state. Weekend Will is Texas centered, for now. Hipps’ aspiration is to take it to other states.
One cannot execute a will online, though Hipps is convinced that with the technology already available that will change. A will is not valid unless they are properly executed according the state probate rules. Simply filling out an online form is not enough to create a valid will, says Allison Anna Tait, a professor of law at University of Richmond. Generally, rules require that the will be in writing, signed, and witnessed by two people.
“That's kind of where there's a little bit of a gap that the person that's doing the will has to kind of make that last little jump,” she says. “It’s just a matter of time that we will execute our wills online. We have the technology to do it. We can do self-proving affidavits. There's a way to prove that you are who you are. There are states in the union that are fully executing wills online. I don't know why Texas isn't doing it because usually we're kind of leaders in that sort of space, but it's just a matter of time.”
A chat bot will soon be available on the website to answer any questions the user might have.
Hipps says more than half of Americans don’t have a will. I’ve seen research that suggests the number is even higher. Cost is but one factor why. Many others simply don’t believe they either need one or don’t believe they need one right now.
But things happen — just ask Hipps and her family.
“I just started digging in deep about what was going on with” the complexity and aversion to wills, Hipps says. “I thought, ‘OK, there's a better way. There's a better way.’ We do everything online. We bank online. We go to school online. We buy our clothes online. We shop online, we buy our groceries. Everything is digital. So, let's just do our wills online. Let's do 'em from the comfort of our home. Let's do 'em on the couch.”
Hipps has an entrepreneurial streak.
She owned a women’s clothing retail store — Coyote — in Sundance Square for six years. When her lease ran out, she decided to do something else. Something else turned out to be Coyote Creek Construction, which she launched with her husband, Benjamin Hipps. Brooke Hipps was doing all the back office stuff, and as the company began to grow and reach a more formidable size, she says she realized she didn’t have the skill-set to handle the day-to-day operations.
“One of us needed to go and get a little more education,” says Hipps, who has a bachelor’s from Dallas Baptist.
So, it was off to TCU’s Executive MBA program. Her focus would be accounting. That changed by the circumstances of her family’s tragedy and inspiration from Rodney D’Souza — the executive director of TCU’s Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation — and Pullin. Their passion for entrepreneurship and innovation changed her course.
That was not the plan, but her husband supported her.
“I told my husband, ‘I've got an idea and I need you,’” Hipps sayd. “I'm done with accounting. I said, I might not come back to the company. And he said, ‘Do what you need to do.’”
Oh, one other thing, honey.
“I need money, too,” she says laughing about her talk with her husband. “‘Here's actually the part I really need you to get behind. We’re bootstrapping this thing.’”
That’s love and marriage. Nothing different from love and a will.
“I know this is the future,” Hipps said.