Seller, BEWARE and BE CAREFUL. Use your scruples. Research the company through the Better Business Bureau, local colleagues, and professional organizations. Make sure you are dealing with someone who is recommended and is a trained professional.
To me, it is complete disrespect for the loved one who has died, but this happens more frequently than even I care to admit. Scary, but very true.
When the box gets too heavy, I am learning to drop it and deal with something more positive. Many boxes out there are getting heavier by the day. Maybe you can learn from my daughter too!
Here’s the sneak peek from my new book, How to Divide Your Family’s Estate and Heirlooms Peacefully and Sensibly, available at the right side bar of this blog.
Problem: Two of my siblings are fighting over the same heirloom. How do you split that?
“How to Divide Your Family’s Estate and Heirlooms Peacefully and Sensibly” is the only book that walks you through the relational minefield that happens when children/heirs have to divide the personal belongings of their parents. This is a must-have resource packed with practical expertise and a fair, equitable process for dividing personal property within a family estate.
These days, it appears increasingly difficult to stay on the level emotionally. So much comes at us that it’s depressing to turn on the TV. To combat this heaviness that many feel, I have 5 suggestions to make us feel more buoyant this year. Please share them with your family and friends, since we all need to support one another.
Christmas is over, and you’ve dragged all the wrappings to the trash can. Now what? Maybe you got what you wanted … maybe you got too much. Things do bring instant gratification, but not long-lasting happiness. So, we keep buying more things to keep feeling good. If your Christmas happiness has been replaced with that let-down feeling, consider the following suggestions.
When we think of the upcoming holidays, we also need to be counting the multitude of blessings we do have, rather than wishing for the ones we don’t have. Make it a special holiday for others, and it will come back to you, in the form of contentment and joy — both in giving and in receiving.
This is my Christmas gift to your family: a wealth of information and valuable resources to protect the relationship, sanity, and peace among your family. The joy of preparation for the inevitable, and the kindness of knowing that everything is in order. Merry Christmas!
Many of us will gather with close family at Christmas and/or New Years. You may want to observe your parents, or other close relatives, and take not of any new signs of the aging process. These signs could mean that your parents need to have someone check on them daily, or to consider assisted living.
Don’t sell, give away, or donate anything until a professional has looked at it. So many Boomers throw away or give away personal possessions worth a fortune, simply because they don’t know the values. Tell everyone “no” until the appraiser has reviewed everything.
In the midst of all this turmoil, I feel we have forgotten the basics, simply because our minds are obsessed with other thoughts. We have forgotten to be thankful, to show appreciation for what we have, and for each other! As corny as that sounds, I believe that appreciation is sadly almost a thing of the past.
Thank you for listening to the teleseminar tonight. If you have further questions that were not answered during the call, please ask me by clicking on “Comments” below this blog post. While you are here, please subscribe to my blog. I write a new entry about once a week
Tonight at 7 pm, I’ll be discussing the top 10 ways you can help your parents before a mental or physical crisis occurs. With the holidays coming close, this is a perfect time to discuss important issues with our family, especially our parents.
This Tuesday night at 7 pm, I’ll be discussing the important “conversation” that Boomers need to have with their parents. With the holidays coming close, this is a perfect time to discuss important issues with our family, especially our parents.
Personal property and heirlooms — we spend a lifetime accumulating them, inheriting them, caring for them, collecting them, and talking about them. But we rarely know the values and we rarely make a plan for what happens to our personal property.
Here’s my list of the biggest mistakes. Hopefully, you don’t see yourself in this list.
You’ve been chosen as the executor for your parents’ estate, or you’ve selected the executor for your estate. What does the executor do? Appreciate the executor of your estate, and prepare as much as you can in advance. There is no substitute for good records and good communication!
If there is truly a job that no one wants, it has to be the Executor of an estate. Being the executor requires great time and effort, and it is usually a thankless job.
Occasional news stories continue to sadden and disturb me, as another elderly, well-meaning person falls victim to a clever scam or scheme. Honor your parents by standing between them and anyone who sees them as an easy target.
I am the executor for my mother, who just passed away. She is our last parent to die, and now her house and garage will be unprotected. I don’t know who has keys to her house, since she had some caregivers towards the end of her life. Is it ok for me to change the locks?
I strongly urged her to hire a professional, and warned her about letting an untrained friend handle something as important as this. But she decided to go to her friend anyway, a decision that cost her dearly.
Having to handle all the detials of a funeral and the liquidation of your parents’ estate ranks high on the list of stressors that can wreak havoc emotionally. Keep in mind: you don’t have to go through grief alone. There is reliable and trustworthy help that can make this painful experience go smoothly.
Many older people have a long-term distrust of banks and often hide their valuables in the strangest places. If your parents are European immigrants, they have an even greater tendency to do this, and if either parent has dementia or Alzheimer’s, they likely have hidden things and forgot about them.
Now that the weather is cooling and the leaves are ready to fall, here are 6 practical ways that you can assist your elderly parents to prepare for the future.