Sometimes I Feel Like a Piece of Bologna

Get Your Estate in Order!

Elizabeth at GenBetween writes about her uncle’s death and the problems in dealing with his estate. Her father is the executor, but guess who’s going to get to do most of the work?

She says, “Stop reading blogs, and, go get your estate in order. Right now.”

And to that I say, amen, amen! Four adults spent three months full time clearing up my mother-in-law's estate. Not fun—and her’s was in pretty good shape except that she hadn’t moved in 40 years.

But worse was an estate that was given to the university and program where my son was a student. The school was the trustee and responsible for everything. When the woman died, I think all they did was remove the body. We were part of a parent group that went in to deal with it several months later. It took months and we literally had to look through every piece of paper (where we found money and other valuables), every piece of underwear (where we found a diamond ring) and the attic (which reeked with cat and rat). As we worked, we all vowed to get our homes in order. Of course, I haven't yet, but I'm sure more organized than I was...

Labels: estate plans