Anthony S. Park

There are many excellent probate lawyers who would be terrible executors. Why? Let’s break down what you need to have to be a professional executor.

The right support team

Probating an estate takes a LOT of hours. It is not reasonable for those hours to be charged on an attorney’s billable time; your estate will go broke in no time. Some lawyers who are just starting out might do everything on their own, but that’s a recipe for burning out quickly.

The attorney must have well-trained, experienced paralegals and support staff. This is a huge asset for an executor while carrying out their duties over a period of months or even years. We’ve had some clients ask if they can just hire the paralegals! Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite work that way.

Think technically, not strategically

Some probate lawyers tend to think more technically, not strategically. That’s not a bad thing; competent probate lawyers will know the steps to get from point A to point B.

But sometimes the question is, SHOULD we be trying to get to point B? You may need to step back and see the bigger picture. A good executor thinks strategically and sees around corners.

For example, a good lawyer knows which forms to send out to complete the court probate package. A good executor also knows which forms to use but also knows that some forms alarm heirs and cause them to clam up. A good executor won’t just send out the forms to the heirs but will take the time to explain the forms and walk the heirs through the process.

Pessimists make good lawyers

Lawyers are supposed to expect the worst, it helps them to draft all those contract clauses to prepare for worst case scenarios. But such pessimism may paralyze an executor, who has a duty to reasonably keep the probate estate moving forward. The executor’s job isn’t to make sure that nothing bad ever happens, but to keep the process going to get the checks into the hands of the heirs. The mindset is a bit of a balancing act.

A good executor will be aware of the downsides, because they could be personally liable for things that go wrong. But the executor should be able to weigh the situation and embrace whatever solutions are available to keep things moving. There is a difference between being aware that something bad could happen and being crippled by the possibility.

A good example of this is closing an estate with an accounting reserve. Meaning, you’re 95% sure the estate is ready to close, and you are ready to get the checks to the heirs. But there is a 5% chance that could be a tax issue or creditor. Since the executor is personally liable, it’s tempting for him not to make any distributions until he is sure that there are no issues. One solution is to close the estate but hang on to a reserve amount to handle any possible problems. This will move things forward to settle the estate.

Hopefully this will help you identify what kind of executor you want for your will. If you decide to hire a professional executor, call them and interview them before making the decision. To learn more, check out my book, “How to Hire an Executor,” available on Amazon.

 

Let’s talk about 3 common suggestions that are bad bitcoin inheritance plans. Why so negative? Why talk about bad bitcoin inheritance plans, rather than the good? Well, sometimes the process of elimination can help focus our thoughts, so we better understand what makes the good plans “good.”

Sharing you private keys

This is just terrible security while you’re living. Why? Because sharing your private keys with someone gives them immediate, irreversible, and unfettered access to your bitcoin hoard.

“But I trust my spouse (or kids, or best friend,” you say. I’m sure you do at this moment. But we’ve all seen thing change faster than you realize.

Maybe a great marriage suddenly veers to divorce. Or who would suspect their own child so controlled by drug addiction would poison them to get their Bitcoin?

And it doesn’t need to be so dramatic, just basic carelessness. Will your loving spouse, child, or best friend know how to keep your private keys as safe as you would? Will they get fished, or simply lose their keys?

And if they do have sole and unhacked possession of your private keys when you die, will they know what do you? Or upon your death, will they be relying guidance from a “trusted third party” to understand how to probate your bitcoin?

“Just” educate your heirs

For many, their plan is to “just educate” their heirs so that heir will know what do when you die.

Um, do you remember how long it took for you to accumulate your current bitcoin knowledge? How many mistakes did you make? How many BIG mistakes did you make?

Now imagine your heirs are grieving, stressed, and have a lot to do during probate. And on top of that they’re supposed to navigate transferring self-custody? It’s just unrealistic

Even if, by some miracle, you cram their heads full of update to self-custody knowledge today, will they stay up to date? Do they want the knowledge enough to stay apprised of protocol updates, multsig best practices, current use of QR codes or air-gapping? Or will their knowledge be obsolete by the time you pass?

Treasure maps

You think you’re writing a simple letter of instruction, but to your heirs it’ll feel more like a treasure map.

Why? Remember, your herirs will be grieving, stressed, and have a lot to do during probate. And no matter how much you “educate” them, it’s unlikely they will know know what to do upon death, and will have to rely on “trusted” third party.

And these letters/maps go out of date faster than you think, Do you really want to spend your life constantly updating your letter of instruction? By the way, this problem is the same for any will or trust, not just Bitcoin Inheritance letters of instruction.

If you want to learn more about probate in general, please check out my book, “How Probate Works.” I don’t have a Bitcoin chapter yet, but you will get a sense of how the probate process applies to your situation.

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Hurray, you’re finally in contract and ready to close on the sale of the estate’s business. You already did all the hard work preparing to sell the business, now make sure you cross the finish line and close the sale properly.

Maintain status quo until sold

Make sure you maintain your insurance payments. In the rare chance that there is a slip and fall accident between the time your insurance lapses and the closing occurs, it will be your problem.

Maintain your security plan, whether it’s an alarm system or driving by to check on the place. We have had an attempted burglary in one of our situations. It’s like the burglars have a sixth sense that the owner passed away and that the building is not well-attended. They notice that there are no cars or customers coming and going from the business.

Keep up to date with all of the business vendors. If the business is not operational, let the vendors know not to come by anymore. You don’t want boxes of inventory stacked up, just like you don’t want piles of mail stacked up outside of a decedent’s home. It’s pretty obvious that the place is vacant if no one takes the items inside.

Allow buyer’s final inspections

Make sure that the lease is transferable. The buyer may need to have an introduction with the landlord to make sure they get along and agree on new terms.

Even if you provide a fully audited inventory of the estate assets, sometimes buyers want to do their own inventory. Cash registers, coolers, machinery, the condition of the parking lot - the buyer will want to see these for himself. Sometimes you can’t capture the condition of these types of things in a report or photographs.

Transfer all paperwork

While most of the paperwork happens at closing, some paperwork needs to be put in motion ahead of time. For example, making sure that the buyer can take over the lease from the landlord.

There may be a whole bureaucratic process to make sure the buyer gets the necessary licenses and permits to operate the business. Maybe it’s a permit to have a cafe on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant or obtaining a liquor license.

Think you’re done? Not quite. Even if you’ve sold and liquidated the business assets, you probably still need to wind down or dissolve the corporation and business bank accounts. You probably did the sale in the form of an asset sale (meaning, the buyer bought the stuff), and not a sale of the corporate stock. The estate is now left with an empty corporate entity. Dissolving the corporation involves getting certain tax clearances, notifying the Department of State, emptying business accounts, and notifying the IRS with a corporate tax return.

It’s a long process, but it has to be done.  We’ll cover this in a future episode, but please comment below if you have questions or comments in the meantime.

If you want to learn more about how probate works, check out my book on Amazon, “How Probate Works.”

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The following are three recent questions from our Solo Ager readers. Thanks for your questions!

As a side note before we begin: I’ve noticed that a more popular phrase is “Elder Orphans” rather than “Solo Agers.” I feel like “orphans” sounds like a bit of a downer. Please let us know what you think in the comments.

Can I disinherit with a poor man’s will?

A “poor man’s will” is a slang term for not having an official will, but rather, using your beneficiary designations to patch together an estate plan. You can disinherit people this way, but it probably won’t work out the way you hope.

Too often, beneficiary designations do not reflect your final wishes. People often forget who they named as beneficiaries on their accounts. That kind of information doesn’t show up on your monthly statement; you have to call the bank. Another reason is that your account balance is continually changing. Maybe you want to leave your bank account to your nephew, but you like your niece more, so you leave her your larger brokerage account. Then, you leave the other brokerage account to your brother. What if one brokerage account over-performs and the other account tanks? Now your wishes are out of whack.

When doing a poor man’s will, you don’t have the structure to run your estate. People like to avoid probate because the process is long, but probate actually gives structure to the process after someone passes away. Structure is important to make sure debts, taxes, and expenses get paid. You could run into the situation where no one knows who is supposed to pay for the funeral. Or maybe the IRS is hunting down all possible heirs to pay the taxes.

Without a probate estate, there are no funds to pay an executor. If all the assets have a named beneficiary, there is no operating account for the estate. Most people don’t want to do the executor work without compensation.

The way to disinherit without using a poor man’s will is using an “in terrorem” clause with a disincentive payment. An in terrorem clause is when you disinherit someone by cutting them out of the will if they object to the will. But that only works if that person is going to get something. (It doesn’t work to say they get nothing, and if they object, they get more of nothing!).

Who will scatter my ashes if I move out of state?

One reader asked who will scatter her ashes if she moves out of state, away from her executor (in this case, I’m her professional executor).

The executor can still honor those wishes out of state. FedEx delivers ashes, and we work with the local funeral director to make sure the ashes get shipped correctly - The estate will pay for the shipping costs. Alternatively, the estate can pay for the executor to fly out of state if there are sufficient funds.

Who should I hire to make my funeral arrangements?

One reader asked if they should hire me, as a professional executor, to make funeral arrangements. Is hiring a person better than buying a prepaid funeral arrangement?

I am not a fan of prepaid funeral plans. With all due respect to my funeral director colleagues, I’m not a fan of prepaying for anything. If you want to set aside money in an account for your heirs to pay for the funeral, that is fine. Locking yourself into a prepaid plan is not the best idea. Funeral homes are not great managers of other people’s money. For example, we had an estate of a deceased funeral director and had to open the funeral home books to see who was owed what. We were tasked with refunding money to people who had prepaid funeral plans, since the funeral director passed. The records were not well-kept, and it was quite a mess.

You can use legal documents for choosing who will be in charge of your funeral plans, and you can have a separate account with funeral funds available. This allows you to change your plans. Suppose you buy burial plots in one state and then you move to another state. Don’t lock your plans in too much because you don’t know how your wishes will change in the future.

A similar question: is the professional executor a “one-stop shop?” Yes, if you ask me to serve as your professional executor, I will have annual check-in calls with you. I can’t just meet you once and put my name on your documents. We don’t have to be best friends, but we need to have a relationship that gives me a general sense of how to carry out your wishes.

Another question: should I name my funeral director as my executor? No. Unless your funeral director is a unique individual who has significant experience serving as executor, then it’s a definite no. They might be excellent at managing final affairs and ceremonies but acting as an executor is a completely different skill set. Just because death relates the two roles doesn’t mean the skill sets are related.

Again, we appreciate your questions. Please keep sending them in! If you don’t have a copy of my book, the Solo Ager Estate Plan, click the link below.

Free copy of "The Solo Ager Estate Plan"

Complete this form to receive your complimentary copy of Anthony’s Amazon best-seller, “The Solo Ager Estate Plan”

 

 

Hiring a professional executor is particularly useful for non-US heirs. Most state rules make it tough for you to be a US executor if you are not from or currently living the US.

US Executor Qualifications

Many states outright prohibit non-US citizens or residents from being a US executor. Some states are a bit more nuanced. New York allows a non-citizen to be executor, but only if they’re also a New York resident. You must prove that you are a New York resident not only when applying for executorship, but also whenever you are acting as the executor.

For example, we have a non-US citizen heir who moved to New York for the purpose of being an executor. Then in the past two years, he moved out of state. When he tried to use his letters at the co-op, the co-op would not accept his letters because he was no longer a New York resident. In order for your letters to be valid, you must stay a New York resident.

Can you be a US executor if you live abroad?

Sometimes it can be done, but it’s challenging. New York may allow it, but only if you have a US co-executor. This is a pain because it means more paperwork during probate. For anything that requires a signature, you’re basically doing the work twice. If you are overseas, you’d have to go to an apostille or a consulate. Just the postage alone to sign each document can be quite expensive.

Further, even if the court allows it, you now have an overseas co-executor who has to get US notarizations, which is often a frustrating process. And more, the co-executor may even have to fly into New York for mundane tasks. You’d think that in 2022, you’d be able to accomplish these tasks online or over the phone. Nope. There are a surprising number of tasks that require in-person visits. Banks and co-ops are two of the biggest culprits.

We have a situation where a retail store in Colorado is part of the estate. The store security system won’t speak to the executor, unless it is in-person. Also, the bank in Colorado requires an in-person visit to close the decedent's account.

What if the non-US court has appointed an Executor?

Many ask: what if I’m a non-US citizen, non-resident, but I’m the court appointed executor in Spain, England, etc. of an estate with US assets? Then, can I be a US executor?

No, because the probate procedure will be slightly different. It’s called “ancillary probate.” All of the rules of about citizenship and residency discussed above still apply. Even if you are a citizen/resident of Spain and are appointed there, you still need a US co-executor. Better yet, hire a professional US executor to collect the US assets.

Because of the complexity of being a non-US citizen executor, people seek our help to make the process much easier. We work with international heirs often, and we are familiar with administering these types of estates.

If you want to learn more about professional executors, check out my book, “How to Hire an Executor,” available on Amazon.

As the default recommended multisig quorum, there must be lots of  2 of 3 multisig holders out there. So let’s make sure your 2 of 3 multisig also works as well upon your death as it does while you’re alive.

Three things to think about: who has your third key; access to keys 1 and 2 upon death; and consider a 2 of 4 multisig.

Who has your third key?

Your best candidates are a custody service, a professional executor or lawyer (who also understands bitcoin custody and opsec), or family and friends.

Ideally, this keyholder will have an ongoing understanding of both bitcoin custody and security, as well as probate and estates. This means someone will keep up to date as technology and best practices evolve, and not just a fleeting understanding.

We discussed in depth “who should hold keys as part of your bitcoin inheritance plan?” in E256.

Access to keys 1 or 2 upon death

Presumably, while you’re alive you have sole access to keys 1 and 2. So how will your 3rd keyholder get access to one of your keys upon your death?

One of the benefits of multisig is that you don’t need such extreme security measures. Why? Because even someone gets one of your keys, they’d still need to get another key to be able to access your bitcoin.

So how to make sure a second keys is available upon your death? A few ideas:

1. Share a full seed phrase with a family or friend, who would share with your 3rd keyholder upon your death
2. Give a hardware wallet clone to family/friend, who would share with your 3rd keyholder upon your death
3. Store a copy of your seed phrase or a hardware wallet clone in a safe deposit box
4. Write a full seed phrase in your will/trust

All of these brainstorm ideas trade some security to increase the chances your estate will actually be able to access your bitcoin upon your death.

Consider 2 of 4 (or more) multisig

2 of 3 multisig means your 3rd keyholder must somehow get access to keys 1 or 2 (your keys) upon your death.

In our experience, too many things go wrong and go missing upon death. And not just bitcoin. Far less esoteric things like bank accounts, atm cards, birth certificates get lost in the shuffle and chaos of probate

For that reason, I’d prefer to have a quorum of keys ready immediately upon death. For example, a custody service such as Unchained Capital or Casa has key 3, and a professional bitcoin executor (me) has key 4.

I prefer this setup because keys 3 and 4 are immediately ready, and we can still fall back onto keys 1 or 2 as backups for redundancy.

What are the drawbacks of 2 of 4 versus 2 of 3?

1. Setting up is a bit more complicated
2. While alive, validating receive addresses may be more complicated
3. And non-2 of 3 multsigs currently standout on the blockchain, and are therefore less private. But Taproot should solve this.

If you want to learn more about probate in general, please check out my book, “How Probate Works.” I don’t have a Bitcoin chapter yet, but you will get a sense of how the probate process applies to your Bitcoin situation.

Request your free consultation

Probate is already a slow process, and recent IRS processing delays are making probate even slower.

Most probate cases must receive IRS tax clearance in order to close the estate. Otherwise, the executor and heirs are at risk for lingering tax problems and getting hit with unexpected tax bills later. Once the heirs understand this, they are fine with taking the time to close the estate properly!

The Taxpayer Advocate is a government entity whose job is to oversee and review the performance of the IRS. The Taxpayer Advocate’s recent annual report https://www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/reports/2021-annual-report-to-congress/ breaks down the extent of the IRS delays, why we can’t get any answers, and what to expect this year.

We are in the frustrating position where we have to tell clients repeatedly that we are “waiting on the IRS.” Hopefully this blog helps to clarify the situation.

Is the IRS having processing delays?

“Delays” an understatement. The following are quotes from Taxpayer Advocate’s sub-report: ”PROCESSING AND REFUND DELAYS: Excessive Processing and Refund Delays Harm Taxpayers https://www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ARC21_MSP_01_Processing-Delays.pdf”

1. “At the close of the 2021 filing season, the IRS had 3 million returns awaiting manual processing”
2. “As the IRS is preparing to begin the 2022 filing season, it is poised to carry over millions of unprocessed returns and millions of pieces of taxpayer correspondence, resulting in even longer delays for taxpayers who have been patiently waiting for far too long”
3. “Taxpayers who have filed their tax returns continue to wait, and wait, and wait for any update from the IRS”

These direct quotes match our experience without a doubt. It can take months to get any response from the IRS. We even include a copy of our letter with a pre-paid envelope and simply ask them to stamp the copy and mail it back to us. In years past, it only took a few weeks to receive our stamped copy. Now, it’s taking them months to just open the letter.

When we do finally get a response, it’s often a punt: just a letter saying they need six more months to a year to respond. Even worse, when we finally get a real response, sometimes it’s incorrect. So, if there’s an issue (even a non-problem, IRS mistake), it resets the clock, and we have to wait another 6 months or more for the IRS to look at it again.

Can I contact the IRS for a status update?

Clients naturally ask if we or they can call the IRS for an update or timeline. It is very unlikely.

From Taxpayer Advocate’s sub-report: “TELEPHONE AND IN-PERSON SERVICE: Taxpayers Face Significant Challenges Reaching IRS Representatives Due to Longstanding Deficiencies and Pandemic Complications https://www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ARC21_MSP_03_Telephone.pdf”

1. “In 2021 the IRS received 282M phone calls. Customer service representatives only answered 32M (11%.)
2. “A taxpayer contacted by the IRS regarding her deceased mother’s return was told to call in but has been trying unsuccessfully for over a year to get through to the IRS”
3. IRS aims to respond to taxpayer correspondence in 45 days. As of Jan 1 their turnaround time is nearly 1 year”

In our experience, we don’t even have the 11% chance of talking to someone. We deal mostly with estates, which are a higher level of complexity than a standard tax filing. We are not going to get a call back from a customer service agent; we have to wait for our file to get to a higher-level agent or even an IRS attorney. So, yes, over one year for ANY sort of letter or reply sounds accurate!

Will IRS processing and communication improve?

This is unlikely; the IRS has a big hole to dig out of. The IRS didn't complete processing all 2019 returns until June 2021, “Thus, the unprecedented processing and refund delays taxpayers experienced in 2021 could be as bad, and potentially worse, in 2022.”

We can only hope that our client’s files are at the top of the 35.3 million pile. Please know, we are waiting along with you, and we're frustrated, too. Unfortunately, we’re all in the same boat. In our experience, no one wants to try to close the estate without the tax clearance and bear the risk of the IRS coming after them.

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If you have a multisig, who should hold keys as part of your bitcoin inheritance plan?

Multisig is a great way to reduce risk of theft or catastrophic loss by reducing single points of failure. Michael Flaxman does a nice job explaining why to use multisig.

But what happens upon your death? You’ll want one (or more) of your keys held by someone other than you. Let’s review some good options for who.

Bitcoin custody service

Nowadays there are several businesses to fill this void, led by Unchained Capital and Casa.

Some advantages of hiring a pro keyholder:

1. Expertise. These guys appear to know what they’re doing.  So you won’t have to worry much about them losing their keys, maintaining good opsec, or generally keeping up to date.
2. Immortality (sort of). Even if the founder or your main point of contact dies, the business itself will carry on and be there after your death (unless they go out of business, of course)
3. Handholding for your heirs. Both Casa and Unchained offer services to guide an executor or heir who is completely clueless about seed phrases, multisig, etc. So not only are they one of your

And a few disadvantages:

1. New. Custody services, collaborative custody, whatever they’re called, it’s all very new. So it’s hard to predict if they’ll stick around, change their focus, or what business standards they’ll adhere to. Only time can tell
2. No probate expertise. While these guys are clearly experts in custody and security, they don’t have experience with probate and executor issues. No shame there, even most “estate planners” and financials advisors don’t really understand probate, either.
3. Cost. Yup, they’re in business, so they charge fees (varies depending on the package and services you need). Unchained has a 2 of 3 service where there’s no fee now, only a $25 fee if/when you need them to sign a transaction.

Bitcoin executor

Just like with estate planning in general, it’s good to have a great executor to run your estate upon your death.

Some pros of having a professional executor hold one of your multisig keys:

1. Probate expertise. A professional executor will know all the ins and outs of probate, the courts, and tax issues.
2. Highly regulated. For better or worse, a professional executor (usually an attorney or bank) is bound to all sorts of ethics rules, fiduciary duties, or banking regulations. So at least you know he has plenty of guide rails. And if anything goes sideways, your heirs will have well-established procedures for remedies against him.

What are the cons or having a professional executor hold one of your multisig keys?

1. Try finding one. According to our clients, it’s very hard to find a good professional executor. Bank have high net worth minimums, and even then have interviews and committees to decide if they want your estate. And apparently they’re aren’t many reputable individual/attorney professional executors out there.
2. AND knows custody. So it’s hard enough to find a good executor. Now compound that by finding one who’s at least a little experienced with bitcoin. Else you’ve just added a new risk vector, some dude who’ll lose his keys, get phished, and let his hardware wallet firmware stagnate un-updated.

Family or friends

 

A trusted family or friend sounds ideal, right? Someone you already know and trust. If you have shared interests, they may already be down the bitcoin rabbit hole with you. Heck, they may even be an heir.

The possible downside is that they simply don’t want the burden of being an executor (of sorts). Probating and settling an estate can be a long, time-consuming, and headache-inducing slog, So even if your family or friend has the expertise to handle the custody of your multisig key, they may not want that burden of responsibility.

If you want to learn more about probate in general, please check out my book, “How Probate Works.” I don’t have a Bitcoin chapter yet, but you will get a sense of how the probate process applies to your Bitcoin situation.

Request your free consultation

Lots of people like to keep cash and valuables hidden at home. But what if you do too good a job of hiding them that even your executor can’t find them? They could end up lost or thrown away. Let’s discuss how to avoid that.

Why people hide cash and valuables at home

Some folks don’t trust banks or the government, in general. Perhaps they came from a country or grew up in another era where banking was much less reliable.

Others want to hide valuables from home aides, cleaning staff, EMTs, etc. Unfortunately, it’s not unusual for items to go missing when someone gets transferred to a nursing home or when they pass away.

Lastly, some folks want to be prepared for a recession or bank runs/panics. Panic bank/ATM runs could have easily been the scenario two years ago when we witnessed the toilet paper shortage.

Where NOT to hide cash and valuables at home

If you hide valuables too well, the executor/heirs probably won’t find it either. From personal experience, treasure hunting for hidden money and jewelry is just one thing on a long list of the executor’s tasks to do when cleaning out a home. The executor needs to document items for family members, and the home needs to be cleared out and in broom-clean condition to get it on the market in a reasonable time frame. There’s really not much time to tear up the floorboards to look for hidden cash...

Here are some examples of where people hide things and why the executor/heirs might miss it:

1. In the freezer, wrapped in foil or Ziploc bag. It’s not really reasonable for someone to go through every item in the fridge/freezer to see if there’s money in it. By the time we’re cleaning out the fridge, everything is probably rotting. We do our best to check, but often, there just isn’t much time before we need to move on to the next task.
2. In the pantry, inside flour jars, sugar jars, cereal boxes. Again, there isn’t time to look through all of these things for hidden valuables. Sometimes we hire a cleaning company, and they certainly are not going to take the time to examine each item.
3. Inside books or hollowed out books. It’s not realistic for an executor to take every book off of the shelf and leaf through the pages. We do tend to check the dictionaries and Bibles, which are more common “hiding places.”
4. Taped on the underside of the drawer. Some public administrators will take out every drawer, examine it, then toss it on the floor. After doing so, it tends to look like someone robbed the place. We do our best to look around, but we also respect the emotional reaction of the heirs. We do not trash the place.
5. Inside a cigar box. We do check these, but if the box is tucked away, we might miss it.
6. Sewn into the lining of clothes. We might do a pat-down of some items, but generally, clothing is overlooked. Although one time, we found cash in a sofa cushion because we noticed a lump.
7. Under floorboards. If there is an obvious discolored board, we’ll take a look. However, we’re not wrecking a house to find possible valuables. It’s time consuming and costly to pull up floorboards and get them neatly back into place. By the way, if the floorboard hiding place is so obvious that we can find it, chances are the home aid or EMT can find it, too.

Good places to hide cash and valuables at home

A fireproof safe costs money and it can draw attention, but it also means that your executor knows to look in there. Try not to worry about the home aid seeing your safe. Most crimes are crimes of opportunity. You are more likely to have cash or jewelry swiped off of your dresser than for a visitor to spend time trying to get into the safe.

There is no need to buy a huge safe that is incredibly obvious. You also don’t want to get a tiny safe that is easy to carry away. A standard safe might weigh 50 to 100 pounds and can be bolted into the floor or the wall.

Solo Ager Book

This topic came up because we have been talking about hunting for Bitcoin keys after death. We thought this would be helpful to cover other types of treasure hunts.

You can tell your professional executor that you have hidden things in certain places, but this may not help if you die years later and change the hiding place.

If you want to learn more, click the link below to get a free copy of my book, “The Solo Ager Estate Plan.”

Free copy of "The Solo Ager Estate Plan"

Complete this form to receive your complimentary copy of Anthony’s Amazon best-seller, “The Solo Ager Estate Plan”

 

Selling probate real estate can be tough because properties are usually out of date, very “lived-in,” and attract discount buyers.

Here are a few minimum renovations and repairs that executors should consider in order to receive a flow of serious buyers, without spending too much in estate funds.

1. Clean out the clutter

Cleaning out clutter is more expensive than people realize. For example, cleaning out a one-bedroom apartment in the Manhattan area will cost between $1,500 and $2,500 for several cleaners/movers, a truck, and a dumpster.

Though cleaning out is expensive, it is a MUST. It’s very difficult to sell a home with the deceased person’s belongings everywhere. Do your best to get the home at least broom-clean or better. Even buyers looking for a sweet deal aren’t really excited to clean up someone else’s mess so that they can move in.

You’ll probably need to pack and ship some items to heirs anyway, so cleaning out the place completely just makes sense.

2. That fresh paint smell

We’ve seen so many homes with outdated colors or tones. We have one right now with blood-red colored walls. Though certain colors may have been popular at one time, you need a neutral color like beige, light gray, or white to sell a home. Don’t try to get fancy with different shades of the same color. We had a house with at least eight different shades peach freshly painted throughout, and it was not appealing! Give the buyers a blank canvas to work with and let them pick their own colors.

Don’t use wallpaper -  stick with paint.

Besides being aesthetically pleasing, a fresh coat of paint can help reduce odors. To put it bluntly, most probate properties smell like the person who lived there. Again, give the buyer a blank canvas that smells fresh.

3. Let there be light!

For some reason, really “lived-in” places seem to feel dark. Maybe there are too many curtains, or the windows haven’t been cleaned.

Most realtors will say that maximizing the light very important. You can do this by updating all of the lightbulbs to LED lights (which is a cheap fix, by the way!). It is also good to wash and fix the windows, if feasible (this may not be so easy in a high-rise building). You may want to consider getting rid of curtains to brighten the place. Additionally, getting rid of curtains can reduce odors trapped in the fabric.

4. Refresh the floors

You don’t need to do a full reflooring, as this can be quite expensive. Just replace or remove the carpet. If you find hardwood floors under the carpet, leave it exposed. People tend to like hardwood floors. Sanding and refinishing old wood floors is way cheaper than putting new flooring in. If you have to put carpet in, choose a light, neutral color.

5. Minimum bathroom updates

Bathroom updates can get expensive, but there are some minimum updates you can do to maximize its appearance. Don't replace the tub, just re-caulk it. You should consider replacing the vanity, as it is fairly inexpensive and easy to install. Many old vanities have stained outlines of where pill bottles and other items sat.

It is also beneficial to update the showerhead and the fixtures. You can go to any hardware store and pick up inexpensive, shiny, updated fixtures. The $50 spent to replace a leaky shower head with a fancier one, will be worth it to help the home sell.

If there are enough funds and the heirs agree to use the estate funds, then you can make costlier updates. However, I assume that most heirs want to maximize their inheritance and just get the home sold. Besides, you don’t know what taste the buyers will have. You might spend a lot of money on updates that look good to you, and the buyer ends up ripping it out to suit their own style.

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