Decluttering 2023

[ray1970]

The 34 is a street rod. I think I have a buyer.

The house is on 2 or 2 1/2 acres in a little town called Sour Lake. Not much there but it?s only about a fifteen minute trip to the sprawling metropolis of Beaumont.

[Great-Kazoo]

Speaking of declutter, when my sisters cleaned out dad's house. Mom had passed 5 yrs earlier, which was a horror show to itself . Anyway. they ended up having 2- 30 yd roll offs needed, by the time the house was cleared out. Not including all the items donated to DAV.

As i'm sitting here, the spouse is ending week 1 of serious ankle surgery, from when she shattered it 7 yrs ago. Looking around at what we can't do, both in wheel chairs, atm. Combined with what i was unable to do after heart surgery 2 yrs ago. It puts ones limited shelf life in perspective. The only thing that keeps us from moving in to a smaller, retirement type area is............

We hate neighbors and hoa's. So we'll let the kid sort all our shit out. But everything's (ok, almost everything) is labeled and or marked with info of approx used pricing, to sell. Including people to contact for assistance selling or trading off.

One more reason one needs to have a will, as well as all their belongings listed to who gets what. INCLUDING, making sure the house (if owned) has names for getting possession, or POA to sell. That's something, if not done, the state get's it's grubby hands in.

[eddiememphis]

So we'll let the kid sort all our shit out. But everything's (ok, almost everything) is labeled and or marked with info of approx used pricing, to sell. Including people to contact for assistance selling or trading off.

That's a heavy load to put on your kid.

If you already have everything labeled to sell, why not do it now?

[ray1970]

I would also highly recommend that anyone who doesn?t have a will please think hard about getting one done. My dad didn?t have one and it made things harder than it should have been. The only thing that helped was that my brothers and I are mostly all rational, intelligent people and get along well.

Also, make sure if there is anything you have that you can designate beneficiaries that you do that because that really expedites things for your surviving loved ones.

[rondog]

I've heard that a trust is far better than a will, supposedly more solid and non-contestable - but I'm not a lawyer.....

[ray1970]

Trust, will, whatever works best in this day and age. Just have a plan in place. Leaving your affairs in a mess and not having some sort of plans in place just puts unnecessary burdens on the people you are leaving behind.

[O2HeN2]

I've heard that a trust is far better than a will, supposedly more solid and non-contestable - but I'm not a lawyer.....

Yhea, a trust is far better than a will because it can (depends on how it's written) be an entity that survives beyond your grave and can contain details on how the assets are doled out far more accurately than a will.

Parents, pay attention, my parents believed so strongly in trusts, they codified the following in their trust:

In their trust they specified that their assets would not be distributed to anything other than a trust held by each child. But up front they gave a stipend to each of the kids, enough to have a lawyer set up a trust.

We all set up trusts, got our assets and all's good.

Just my experience with trusts.

O2.

Ps. I guess we also have an outlier family since multiple lawyers commented that they had never seen a trust or will go so cooperatively to the descendants.

[00tec]

Let me know if you need an extra hand moving stuff around. I'll drive down.

[ray1970]

Let me know if you need an extra hand moving stuff around. I'll drive down.

I appreciate the offer. I have brothers in Austin and a there is a kid that lives next to my dad that always helped him out who I?m sure would be willing to lend me a hand. We gave him one of my dad?s trucks so he kind of owes us. Lol.

[Clint45]

I would also highly recommend that anyone who doesn?t have a will please think hard about getting one done. My dad didn?t have one and it made things harder than it should have been. The only thing that helped was that my brothers and I are mostly all rational, intelligent people and get along well.

Also, make sure if there is anything you have that you can designate beneficiaries that you do that because that really expedites things for your surviving loved ones.

I got along great with my Dad. He assured me that when he passed, I was getting the house and land... but I never got a copy of his Will.

After he passed, my evil mum and her lawyers told me, "You don't get a dime" and ever since she's been renting out the first floor and going on ten vacations a year.

Have a lawyer draft your Will, then provide a copy to your beneficiaries.

When my wife's Dad passed away, within hours his brothers (who hadn't visited in over a decade) suddenly showed up, pushed his disabled wife aside, and picked the house clean. My wife got an old framed photo of him, which was the only thing they left behind.