It’s been over a year since my super cool dad left the world, five years after my mom had passed. As a 39 year-old-orphan, I think back and realize that there is absolutely no training in life on what to do when your parents die (and worse, when they die poor). We really should teach this in school.
Here’s the hard truth: Your parents will die. You may be left with a lot more than grief.
Like many Americans, my parents were poor working class amazing humans. They didn’t have 401(k)s or credit cards or bank accounts that accrued interest. I grew up happy and they gave me and my twin sister everything we needed. After my mom passed, everything was then in my Dad’s possession. There’s no major inheritance. Not a lot of stuff to divide up. Just a lot of paperwork, two small houses filled with junk and a lot of red tape (no, really, there was a box with about a dozen rolls of red tape). As a business owner and general go-getter, I was chosen as the executor and power of attorney. If you are in this situation, here’s everything I wish I would have known before my parents died. There are a lot of topics here that are my personal experience, which is relatively unique, and may not apply to all.
