HOW TO CLEAN OUT YOUR PARENTS’ ESTATE IN
30 DAYS OR LESS
A Solutions-Based Guide to Emptying the Home Without Losing Your Mind
By Julie Hall
The Estate Lady®
The Estate Lady Publications
6420-A1 Rea Road #135, Charlotte NC 28277
704.543.1051
Credits:
Domna V. Colepaugh, Assistant
Second Edition, March 2011
© 2011 Julie Hall, The Estate Lady®. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning or other – without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2010923711
Published in eBook format by Estate Lady Publications
Converted by http://www.eBookIt.com
ISBN-13: 978-0-9844-1915-9
For rights or permissions inquiries, please contact The Estate Lady® at [email protected]
For information about custom editions, special sales, premium or corporate packages, please contact The Estate Lady® at 704.543.1051 or at [email protected]
For all my clients–
past, present and future.
Thank you for sharing your lives so I could
learn how to serve you in a greater capacity.
About the Author
Julie Hall, author of The Boomer Burden, Dealing With Your Parent’s Lifetime Accumulation of Stuff, is an accredited personal property appraiser, estate sales professional, residential content removal specialist, and a broker of fine items. As owner and operator of The Estate Lady®, LLC, which offers turnkey estate dissolution services, she brings eighteen years of experience to families facing the overwhelming task of sorting through and emptying their parents’ home. Her expertise is called upon for consulting, conducting on-site estate sales, appraising personal property, and organizing the removal and disposal of contents in the most appropriate way.
In addition to her responsibilities as The Estate Lady®, Julie’s passion for helping as many distressed families as possible deal with the challenges of estate dissolution inspired her to take ownership of the American Society of Estate Liquidators ® (ASEL) in 2007. As director of ASEL, her vision is to dedicate the organization to being an educational and referral resource to estate liquidation professionals nationwide. Today, ASEL offers educational courses, resources, products, and support to industry professionals and those interested in becoming estate liquidators.
A popular speaker to groups dealing with older adult issues and estate accumulation challenges, she is also an expert author on many senior and boomer websites, answering questions about appraisals, downsizing, and family matters. Her work has been published in The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News, MSN Money, LA Times, etc, and she is called upon by people worldwide for her sound advice.
In 2007, The Estate Lady®, LLC was selected by StartupNation as one of the top three home-based businesses in the United States in its Boomers Back in Business category.
Julie is an accredited member of Association of Online Appraisers, the Certified Appraisers Guild of America, the National Speakers Association, the National Association of Women Business Owners, and the Better Business Bureau. Julie resides in Charlotte, North Carolina, with her family.
For more information, please visit Julie’s websites: www.TheEstateLady.com, www.ASELonline.com, www.TheBoomerBurden.com or her blog at http://estatelady.wordpress.com
Introduction
With all my years in the estate industry, the one thing I keep hearing over and over is how my boomer clients wish they had a simple, step-by-step, “how to” guide to point them in the right direction after beloved parents become infirm and/or pass away. I have dedicated my career to being a resource for clients and empowering them with knowledge to take on this overwhelming responsibility.
I want you to be prepared for what’s coming. There is much to do both before and after parents leave us. Knowing the correct order in which to do the numerous necessary tasks will make your life much less overwhelming. I hope this guide will act as a friendly hand to hold during the process.
This guide is complimentary to my book, The Boomer Burden – Dealing With Your Parents’ Lifetime Accumulation of Stuff, available on Amazon and at all major booksellers. Having hit #1 in several different categories, its reviews are tremendous. People email me from all over the world thanking me for writing it. With 100+ million of us needing this guidance, I would recommend picking up the book if you have not yet done so. If you have already read it, this guide is an additional resource and will act as a working manual to put in your purse or briefcase to check things off as you go.
My goal is to make this overwhelming process as easy as possible for you, all the while making you aware of things most people never even think about. You need a quick-reference, easy to understand, easy to follow guide that provides you with peace of mind and keeps it “simple.”
This is a topic that is touching 78 million Baby Boomers and 45 million of their parents. Timely and relevant for today’s aging population, this daunting issue is rarely talked about until now. I know this guide will offer you trustworthy guidance and lighten your load during this very difficult time in your life.
Section I
One or Both Parents Are Living & Still in Their Home
HAVING THAT HEART TO HEART: PLANNING FOR THE INEVITABLE
If one or both of your parents are still living and mentally competent, preparing for the transition also means preparing for the inevitable. You need to begin talking to your parents about the future. Topics you need to cover include:
•Monthly bills and expenses
•Medications list and other related health information: Medical records, List of doctors with contact info, signed HIPPA forms
•Location of important papers including:
Wills/Trusts
Bank accounts
Investment accounts
Insurance policies
Mortgages
Outstanding Loans
Pensions
Deeds and titles
Retirement accounts
Safety deposit boxes
Credit Accounts
Stashed valuables
Computer passwords
(A complete checklist and tracking document for important papers is in Section VI of this manual)
•The existence of a will and whether it is up-to-date according to his/her/their wishes
Division of assets
Name