Selecting Your Trustee

I expected another estate-planning audiobook to be the audio equivalent of watching paint dry. *Selecting Your Trustee* surprised me. Hersch’s writing is razor-focused, skipping the usual filler about probate horror stories and diving straight into the mechanics of trustee selection like a chess grandmaster explaining gambits. The narration, though, was a stumbling block. Virtual Voice’s delivery is crisp and neutral, which works for the book’s procedural sections but undercuts its occasional flashes of sharp, almost sarcastic commentary. A human narrator with a drier-than-thou delivery might’ve elevated the tension in moments like Hersch’s takedown of ‘emotional trustees’—the kind of people who inherit control because they cried at the funeral. The production quality is solid, with clean audio that never strains, but the 3-hour runtime feels tight for a topic this dense. Hersch packs in enough real-world examples to keep listeners engaged, though a few could’ve used more depth—like the chapter on corporate trustees, which breezes through pros and cons without enough detail to help listeners choose between them. Still, if you’re someone who’s ever wondered if your sibling is the right pick to manage your estate during your incapacity, this audiobook will make you question everything. The narrator’s flat tone might grate after a while, but the content is so specific and actionable that it overcomes the delivery quirks.