One of the hardest events in our lives is when we lose a loved one. Dealing with emotional grief can be all-consuming, but on top of that, it often comes with an avalanche of decisions and responsibilities.
Sometimes, a person plans what will happen after their death. But often, the bereaved are left to make the decisions for themselves. A practical service Yankee offers to help with sorting is dumpster rental.
If you find yourself in charge of an inheritance, the first step is to create a plan of attack. Below we’ll offer advice for practical tasks when dealing with a loved one’s death in Apopka and the surrounding areas.
Check for Wishes
The first step when dealing with a loved one’s estate is to find out if the recently deceased person left any wishes. A will is the most official version of someone’s post-life wishes, but sometimes people write up or share their hopes in other ways. Does anyone in the family know what was supposed to happen with specific belongings?
Begin Planning
Now you’ll want to devise a plan for how to sort everything. Maybe you’re the sole heir or the executor of the estate. Or you’re the only relative who lives close enough to handle everything.
Whatever the reason the responsibility has fallen on you, you’ll want to make it easy. Part of that will be talking to family, friends, and professionals.
Speak to Professionals
Three types of professionals may be useful to you in divvying up an estate. The first is a lawyer. Lawyers can help to ensure that you’re dotting all the i’s and crossing all the t’s, especially if no will was left behind or you have relatives arguing about what to do.
Secondly, while sorting through belongings, a lot of grief and other feelings can come up. Therefore, speaking to a grief counselor while sorting belongings may be a good idea.
Finally, some pros help with estate sales. Depending on the size of the inheritance, speaking to someone specializing in estate sales can help you sell everything. Of course, you will have to pay a percentage, but it may be worth it, especially if time is short.
Talk to Family
Everyone has a relationship with their deceased relative and may have different ideas about what should be done with their belongings. Therefore, it’s essential to understand what everyone’s thoughts are before getting started.
Everyone may want a chance to pick out what is most important to them to keep for themselves. Or everyone may decide to split the money made from sales. You may not be able to please everyone, but everyone must be on the same page before you begin the sorting process.
Sorting
In some ways, the physical sorting of the estate is the easiest part. However, with a dumpster rental, donation trucks, and perhaps a professional estate seller, you’ll now need to divide the items of the home into separate categories.
Family
The first set of items are the items going to family members. Ideally, everyone has had a chance to look at everything and pick up what matters most. If not, put aside things reserved for specific people.
Selling
Ideally, the largest category will be the items you are selling. If you’ve enlisted the help of an estate sale planning professional, they can go through everything to decide what’s worth selling and price items accordingly.
If you are selling it on your own, you’ll have a lot of research to do and will probably take many pictures and post items online or bring them to stores.
Donations
If you can’t make money off the items left (or don’t want to go through the trouble of selling), the next best option is donating them so people who can use them will get them. Luckily many charities will send trucks to your home to pick up items like furniture that they will then give to those in need or sell so the proceeds can help the needy.
Trash for Dumpster Rental
Unfortunately, there’s a good chance that a large portion of what’s left will go into your dumpster rental. While you may want to find a use for everything, a dumpster rental is vital for making removing your trash easier, which is especially true if the deceased person is a hoarder.
Yankee Can Help
Grieving is a complex process; we hope you have relatives and professionals who can help you. Yankee dumpster can assist in our small way with a convenient dumpster rental when you need it. We deliver our dumpsters and pick them up when you’re done.
