Balancing Three Estates Amid Grief

Imagine losing your father, mother and sister all in the same year. That’s what happened to Leslie, a 56-year-old woman who found herself overwhelmed after all three members of her family died. She was not only overwhelmed with grief, but also with the monumental task of clearing up three estates at the same time.

Leslie’s father, mother and sister lived in three different states. None of them did any advanced financial or estate planning. Leslie had little idea of how to handle the situation, so she hired some professionals to help. They were ineffective, though, and a person familiar with the deteriorating situation referred her to BPP.

BPP Assesses the Situation

We assessed Leslie’s situation and explained to the client that she needed to handle each situation separately and understand what needed to be done and the deadlines for each estate.

Since her own financial life had fallen into chaos because of all the turmoil in her life, BPP created a Security Income Plan for Leslie. This was critical to help her gain clarity about what was important to her and what assets she had.

We then gave Leslie a clear outline of the tasks she needed to complete in order to deal with the estates she had inherited, and helped her hire a team of financial professionals to get the job done.

We worked with Leslie to help her collect monies from her mother’s life insurance policy, which would enable her to complete the tasks needed to resolve settling all three estates. She also was able to pay her mortgage bill and taxes. We provided Leslie with a detailed action plan so she is aware of what she needs to do on a monthly, weekly and even daily basis.

Leslie knows how much money she can expect to have left over once the estates are all settled. She now has peace of mind that she didn’t have during the worst of this traumatic period. Plus, Leslie knows that she will be OK financially.

This material is being provided for general information purposes only and should not be construed as investment, tax, or legal advice, or as a solicitation to buy or sell any specific securities product or used as the primary determinant of the best strategy. Although these are actual events, not all clients will experience the same result and there is no guarantee of future performance or success.