Hard Conversations Involving Estate Issues

Sample Hard Conversations involving Estate Issues we have helped with, resulting in a safe, satisfactory and peaceful resolution.

One Sibling Looted the House. Trust Eroded. How To Avoid Court and Be Fair

With both parents gone, there was so much stuff to go through. Parents had lived in their home for a very longtime. All but one of the siblings lived out of town. Trust was eroded because the local sibling had been taking things out of the house since the house had been unoccupied. Out of town siblings were frustrated by lack of communication. No one had come up with a plan of what to do and they felt it was unfair for one sibling to be able to do whatever she wanted with all of the property.

Siblings Can’t Afford To Support Inherited Family Farm.

Four siblings have inherited the family farm where they grew up. They wanted to keep the land in the family. None of them could afford to buy out the others. They were having difficulty coming to agreement about what to do. In the meantime, splitting the upkeep expenses was very difficult for two of the siblings.

Parents Want to Have End of Life and Estate Conversation with Avoidant Kids.

Parents in their late 60s wanted to include their children in conversation about their end of life wishes and their estate plans. The parents were healthy and vital and planned to live into their 80s. They realized their estate could look very different at the end of their lives. Parents wanted to use this situation to raise the bar on the way family members interacted. Their adult children sometime acted more like kids than adults. They feared that the conversation could end up with great misunderstandings.

Family Vacation Home is Source of Great Unrest

Three siblings and their spouses inherited a vacation home that had been in the family for forty years. Without the older generation to rule the roost, it was up to the second generation (G2) to create a peaceful and fair system to manage the use and maintenance of the home. G3 are now young adults wanting to use the vacation home as well. The situation was creating hurt feelings, double bookings, and defensive positions.

Disagreeable Heirs become Unintentional Landlords.

After closing bills were paid, the only remaining asset in the estate was the parents’ house. It was a bad time to sell in a severely depressed real estate market. Two sisters found themselves becoming unintentional landlords. They had to rent the house in order to pay taxes, insurance, and maintenance until the market improved. They could not agree on the details of  a rental agreement or whether they should use a property manager. They were equal owners in the property.

“Never A borrower Or Lender Be”—Well, Maybe

An adult son did not have a good track record of paying back funds “borrowed” from his parents. Though he had enough money for a down payment on a home, he could not qualify for a bank loan. He wanted to borrow the balance from his parents. If he didn’t buy this home, the grandchildren would not have a stable place to live. An agreement was worked out to protect the parents, the grandchildren, the son and their relationship.