LatestartersDaughter 's Journal

[LatestartersDaughter]

The auction went well. We made enough money to pay my dad's mortgage for a few months. The bank does nothing to help you out there - shocker right. I was surprised Bang sold for the most, she is pregnant though. Thank you so much @Devonviolet and @Baymule for your help!

We've decided we are going to wait until we get the life insurance to go back to Texas. Lawyer isn't cheap and you have to have one to file the will in Texas. Now we wait for the death certificate in order to do anything!

 

[Baymule]

Banks don't care what problems a person may have, they just want their payment. I am so happy that the sale of the goats helped you and your brother keep the payments made. I hope that the farm sells quickly. Y'all may have to make a decision to lower the price for a quick sale. It will be a choice between holding out for more money (and having to make payments for however long?) and taking a short sale and getting the worry of making a house note off your minds. That's the ole proverbial "between a rock and a hard place".

When we moved up here, we had that choice and made the decision to take a short sale so we didn't have an empty house sitting there for months and months while vandals stole everything. The house we bought had already been struck by vandals that tore out copper wiring, the furnace and outside air conditioning unit. They also tore out the breaker box and wiring. It cost us $10,000 to repair it all.

 

[B&B Happy goats]

Could you rent the house until the estate lawyers get everything done so you can sell ?
As Bay mentioned above....when our parents passed, we did a sale and sold the house within a week... for 15k over the low listed price.....the house didn't have a mortage on it... we had a family trust that stated we could do that, but because dad had gotten a new truck after mom died, the whole truck issue took a year for the title to be released....getting government involved in settling what should be family matters is a pain....happy you got a good price for the goats !

 

[Baymule]

Renters can be a blessing and a curse. A good renter would keep the place clean and the yard mowed. A bad renter..... the horror stories abound. LOL Most want a lease, If month to month, it can actually be harder to get them out. Real estate laws are screwy.

 

[greybeard]

The auction went well. We made enough money to pay my dad's mortgage for a few months. The bank does nothing to help you out there - shocker right. I was surprised Bang sold for the most, she is pregnant though. Thank you so much @Devonviolet and @Baymule for your help!

We've decided we are going to wait until we get the life insurance to go back to Texas. Lawyer isn't cheap and you have to have one to file the will in Texas. Now we wait for the death certificate in order to do anything!

Not things that are easy to talk about at this time but....
If I read it correctly, Joe was cremated vs traditional burial.
If you haven't already done so, as next-of-kin, you can apply for & the VA will reimburse most of the cremation costs. It takes up to a few months to receive the check. I paid for the cremation of my father-in-law in 2014 and I had to walk my m-i-l thru the paperwork but she did get the check. They don't pay 100% but the check was still over $1000. I think it may have been transport costs from the VA hospital to the creamatorum that they did not fully cover.

(EDIT!...IF an insurance policy or a prepaid plan covered the final costs, then the reimbursement from VA may not be available.)

It's usually customary in Texas for a will to be filed by the deceased's attorney as soon as the will is written out and the official notary seal stamped. Filed at courthouse with clerk of court.
Entering probate will indeed have to be done with an attorney, tho not all estates go to probate. Depends on the size of the estate. Make sure the 2018 taxes have all been paid. Property and fed income taxes.

I can tell you, that in the case of my father's uncontested will/estate, everything had to be listed to clear IRS.
They wanted a value for:
His wardrobe.
Vehicles...with year and miles.
Equipment..model and serial # and estimated value.
Homes and real property.
Firearms.
Shop equipment.
Real and other tangible property.
(if the estate is under a benchmark value limit, IRS probably won't become involved in the probate itself. My father's was relatively large and varied)

Do be aware, that if Joe's place was under ag exemption, the county can invoke a rollback of county tax exemption since it is now no longer qualified. The rollback is having to pay the difference of what appraised tax without exemption would be minus what was assessed under ag. IIRC, they can go back 5 years, tho it may vary county to county. It all depends just how hard that county's appraisal district keeps track of things and how 'money hungry' they are. It's the 'new owner(s) that pay the rollback, which for now, is Joe's legal heirs, but often, the rollback doesn't happen until the estate is sold and new warranty deed is filed with clerk of court. Real estate agents and title company will likely advise you of this when the time comes.

It's always unfortunate in these circumstance, that the farm animals have to go to disbursal sale/auction..but sounds like they found good homes.

Several times, I have been to livestock auctions and seen a lifetime of someone's cattle work go thru the ring not long after their obit appeared in the paper. 40-50-60 years of a rancher's livestock genetics pass in front of you in a matter of minutes.

 

[Baymule]

All sound good advice. Brandy and @SonOfALateStarter we all truly wish the best for you. There’s lots of people here with experience in these things. Do the best you can, we are here if you need us.

 

[Bruce]

Like Bay said, keep us informed here. I know it is your private family business but many of us are willing to assist if possible/necessary.

I hope Joe's farm sells for more than he paid, he did a fair amount of fencing and built the goat mansion. Definitely value enhancers.

 

[B&B Happy goats]

Hey Brandy, it's Barb and Mel stopping by to say hello, and to let you know we are thinking of you...hope life is smoothing out some for you