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Hello, I am 56 years old and have an older brother and a younger brother. My mom is 84 and thinks she is dying even though no doctors ever find anything wrong with her. Pains in her chest, she is going to a stress test in about 10 days. I have been the sole live-in caregiver the past 13 1/2 years after she came home from a horrific car accident. Anyway, am taking her to the lawyer this coming week to change her Will. She has my older brother as the executor and wants to add my younger brother. I probably won't get on it as an executor even though I want to. So my younger brother says this morning for her to put in the Will that I can have everything in the house, except the piano which is his. I rather have an estate sale, except for the piano, and split it 3 ways. My younger brother says everything in the house is worthless, but he is worth many millions, so it might be worthless to him to bother about any of it. He hasn't been here since 1989. My mom has good taste and the house is filled with expensive things, not to mention the Silverware. I do not think I will be able to handle it all by myself. I think I'll need help. My mom is resistant about going around the house putting a value on the thousands of things she owns too. Having no money I need everything I can get from it, but I need help from my brothers , and I want to split it 3 ways. Instead they want it all on me.

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James, I bought a 25k bedroom set for $500.00. So not even 10% of the new value. Shock I would never pay that kind of money for a bedroom set.

You should hire a company to do the estate sale. Because no matter where the money goes, your 2 brothers aren't going to be boots on the ground help.

You can start an inventory and research on the best place to sell now, that way you have a bit of a grip when you inherit the house stuff.

Truly collectable items should be auctioned through large well known auction houses.

Doing research will also help you stay real in what you perceive is the value.
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Collectibles, artwork unless by a well established, well known artist will bring very little. You will not net much in profits off the contents of a house regardless of how expensive or what good taste your mother had. Don't plan on having a lot money from this. If you need the money you better hope for a share of proceeds from selling the house, real property or a share of any savings she has.

My mother had a large house and perfectly decorated. She was an interior decorator. I kept the things I wanted. I gave a lot to a charity auction that she always supported. Sold a few things at a very small fraction of what they were worth.
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If you get the contents of the house, you get the proceeds of the estate sale. However, know that china, antiques and silver aren't worth anything. I just did my parents' estate sale, and far more than half of the items didn't sell. They had thousands of dollars worth of antiques, and I managed to sell a 150-year-old bookcase for $20. None of the rest sold.

None.

If your mom owns her house, I would hope her attorney encourages her to create a trurt, not merely a will, because you all will pay to probate her estate will only a will.

Also, there should never be two executors unless they're very much on the same page about everything. My mom and her sister were co-executors, but they never had drama between them anyway so it worked. I wouldn't recommend it otherwise.
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JamesG4Justice Oct 2022
There is art work, signed things, prints, figurines, collectibles, My dad's 1930's Gibson guitar. His violins. Just all kinds of stuff. Furniture in a lot of the rooms is really nice ans unused. We got signed baseballs and other signed sports memorabilia. She has like hundreds of those collectible light houses. A house full of stuff. I can understand throwing away tons of junk. But I was thinking a lot of this stuff can be sold here and there. Why would a poor person go buy a new living room set for 10,000 or more, when they could get this beautiful perfect condition one for 1000? Stuff like that. I think there is enough stuff I could get over $100,000 for it all.
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Never two executors! It's not only about possible conflict, it's about choosing the one person who is the best for the job. It's also very hard to divide up the chores, and then one co-executor gets stuck doing most of the work. If I were you, I wouldn't encourage your mom's thinking. Call someone who does estate sales in your area, and have them visit to look at the items. Your siblings might come to agree that the best way is to dispose of things that way. It matters not what value your mother or siblings put on her household items. They don't know what prices should be because they are not in the business. Ultimately an item is only worth what someone will pay for it, and usually it's nowhere near the worth that the owner thinks it has.
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First, there should never be two Executors. There will definitely be a conflict.

I think they are are giving you a gift. There is no way that Mom knows the value of things. Some things that sold for hundreds/thousand ten years ago, no one wants now. That goes for Moms China and Silver. My 45yr old and 37 yr old daughters could care less about my stuff.

When Mom passes, you clean out. You have an antique dealer come in and tell you what her items are worth, they may buy them. Then you have an estate sale. You get more than at a yard sale. Whats left, have a yard sale. Whats left...donate.
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Most furnishings regardless of someone's taste or expense aren't going to bring a lot of money. Silverware is only as valuable as the current silver price and the market is saturated.
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You cared for her this amount of time and she will not make you the executor? Guess what, were she MY mom she would be in care real quick.
That said, whomever is the executor is in charge of liquidating the estate. They do it according to the will not according to their wishes. If the will is explicit in who gets the piano then that person gets it. If not, the household holdings are sold and the things distributed according to the will.
As I said, I would not put up with this for a second. That you are? Well, you are, so just step away and let them all continue on their merry way. If you are not mentioned in the will to be executor you have nothing to say. And there should be ONE executor with a contingent if wanted or needed.
When you ASK why you are doing all the care and others are getting all the responsibility I sure would love to know what she is answering you.
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JoAnn29 Oct 2022
Maybe after caring for Mom, the last thing they want is Executorship. I would not do it again.
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