Quote Originally Posted by iris lilies View Post
Tybee, I can see why nothing of substance has left your parent’s house while your dad is still alive and kicking and aware, it is after all his house. But if he has now agreed to sell apparently, so now you can get out quickly. I would think you could clean up all paperwork in a weekend, if not giving final,disposition, at least gathering it in tubs for resolution later (although much of it could be pitched on the spot.) You could pick up the pieces of furniture that you want and put them in a rented storage unit. Then the place iS ready for outsiders to clean out.

It all depends on how much labor each one of you want to spend on it. I think it’s a perfectly valid decision to not spend any labor at all. I think it’s a perfectly valid decision to spend labor on it to get maximum money out of the estate. Both of those decisions are valid and reasonable.
Good point about putting papers aside--we have done some of that, but really a lot of old stuff just needs to be shredded or burned so it is not in the house anymore. Good idea of getting the furniture we want out and put in storage. If we do those things, then it's fine if someone wants to organize an auction, although most of the value is in the tools, and I think my brothers wanted some of the tools.

I don't think of the labor being intended to get maximum money--it's just to protect their privacy and get the heirlooms out.It really isn't about the money, it's about getting the personal stuff and heirlooms out.

I think if you are someone's executor, you ought to be willing to go through their papers and make decisions about what you need to keep. I think that is your duty; if you don;t want to do that, don't take on the job.