The Estate Lady
Julie Hall is an expert in dealing with personal property from the Depression era. Estate dissolution and helping grieving families make appropriate decisions during the estate settlement process are her specialties. She is a certified personal property appraiser, an estate sales professional, a residential content removal specialist, and a broker of fine items. As owner of The Estate Lady®, LLC, she brings 18 years of experience to families facing the overwhelming task of dissolving the family home.
Know the Plan
Ask questions now
Knowledge is power. The more facts you know about your parents’ estate plans, the less you will have to decide on your own later. Make sure everyone in the family has talked with them about their estate planning and final wishes. It is imperative that you know the following:
- Is there a will?
- Where is the will?
- Where is a copy of the will?
- Is the will updated? A will should be reviewed every 10 years or less. If there is no will, enlist the help of an estate planning attorney; discuss health care issues and trusts as well.
- Do you know who the executor is?
- Do you know who your parents’ attorney is?
- Do you know who your parents’ financial planner is?
- Do you know what to do if your parents have to move to assisted living?
- Do you know your parents’ end-of-life wishes?
Ask these questions now, and have the vital conversations as a family now, before you have to make decisions and locate valuable information in the midst of a crisis.
By Julie Hall
The Estate Lady Blog
[First posted March 8, 2010, at Julie Hall's Estate Lady Web site.]
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Know the Plan
Thank you, Julie. We need your sound advice!!
It is really hard to bring up these issues to our children.
I set down with old pictures one time when the childen were in the house. The pictures brought laughs and then made it easier to bring up issues about who wants Grandma's old rocker, or the grndmother clock.