Just Nuts : Where’s the Assets ? — A Story from An Estate Gone Missing
The day came and the phone rang and my friend and business partner had died. She lived in a big home filled with her lifetime worth of things from artwork to costume jewelry from family heirlooms to cat grooming products.
By the morning after she passed when I went to the house to get more details of her passing and the condition of the house and all of her things, I was shocked.
I asked her caretaker for where I could find her diamond earrings, the designer watch, the family heirlooms. The diamond earrings were already gone. The tennis bracelet was still in the house. The family heirlooms were in stages of missing pieces from fine china to silverware.
The refrigerator was getting moldy and the stove top burners were burned. The house was a hazard so I called a crime scene clean up company to help get rid of things from the bedroom including carpeting and bedding. I had the home treated and prepared safely for others to enter inside.
On the outside of the property it was clear that it needed some TLC in the front yard so I added rocks and pretty flowering plants. I know my friend must be smiling down from Heaven. There’s a whole lot I had to do as The Personal Representative of her estate and I can’t wait to share the lessons I learned in this role. My greatest prayer is to save others the heartache that is avoidable with decisions that are critical when you have to bring people into the home regularly.
