Is it finished yet? In less than a year. That sounds pretty good, tho, that it was all finished reasonably clear?
Yes it is all finished now. Seeing as I am not a mechanic and my father had no will and his only "asset" was his business it was interesting indeed. I learned much that is for sure. At first I was trying to figure
how to get rid of everything. I didn't no who or how to sell it and I certainly did not know how much it was all worth. I ended up getting some help from the tool salesman (but that was only after word was getting around that he was trying eerrmm uumm
explicitive us out of money for his own gain). That was going to hurt his ability to sell things around town he did not do right by "Paul's" (my dad) children. I was pretty annoyed that someone who claimed to be his friend was only worried about getting paid. My dad almost excusively bought tools from him.
It turned into a lot of his supposed "friends" around town were only concerned about getting paid. Out of all his "friends" I only feel one person (Dave) stepped up and I still speak with him. There was another person I "thought" was ok but after I evened out the debt I never heard from him again, though he was nice and I'm sure if I go back to his parts store he will "take care" of me. I had one of his friends tell me (well actually he told Dave) that it was too hard for him to come to my dad's shop. He never called any of us or anything. I know my father thought of him as a very good friend and spoke with him all the time.
I also started to wonder how the heck the world goes round after dealing with banks, credit cards etc. I promise you some of the most unintelligent, clueless disorganized people run everything.
One example: I was trying to close down the fathers bank account for his credit card which for some reason was based in Denver. I had to argue with them for a month that I was NOT going to fly to Denver to close an account (you usually have to show up in person) seeing as they had no problems opening it up with out physical contact. My father never made it any further west than PA. In the mean time they kept charging him service fees and such for having the account.
The list just goes on and on. I did sell some of the stuff through the paper but in the end I just had to auction it off. I couldn't keep paying the rent, electricity, water etc and have it be worth it. We won't talk about how awful the landlords were even though he'd been there for 20 years and fixed their cars.
A word of advice to anyone who has to auction off a loved ones belongings. DO NOT GO TO THE AUCTION. It has to be one of the worst experiences I can think of. People are vultures, and I would tell you, being there is like watching the vultures pick apart the corpse of a loved one while you watch. At least if you aren't there you just find what's left. It should be a bit easier to deal with.
Yes I am jaded from it all even still.
But I'll bet lawyers like that would see Christian families, even close families, suddenly broken up, by virtue of a will, or an estate. siblings who'd maybe gotten along - suddenly, broken up.
And the attorney would probably see these same folk going to church, maybe even at the same church, singing hymns, reading the bible, leading groups, etc.
Oooh, the deceitfulness of possessions.
Not that my family is Christian (though it seems to be getting there) there was no squabbling between us. My little brother being just who I thought he would be did little to help. Once he knew that the administrator got a "cut" off the top before anything was distibuted, his attitude was that of "Well, you;'re getting paid so you do the work." My sister helped much more and I "rewarded" her for it as well. The same would have gone to my brother but he decided to do as I expected of him. The thing is that I didn't get much at all from his "estate" Less than $3000 from it all(this is just from his estate luckily he had life insurance but that is another story). Keep in mind that after work almost every morning from Jan-April I would be doing something for the estate (I work night shift). Many days I would not get to bed until 6 PM only to wake up at 11 PM to go do it all over again.
I have learned many a thing and have made it a point to tell my sister that its her turn when my mother dies. I will help but I don't want that burden ever again.
Do your loved ones a favor and get a will. I know the concept of death and making arrangements for it are tough but it is something one needs to do. You lay a heavy burden on your family if you don't. Much has to be done and no will costs time, money, and many rifts problems.
