It’s been a long, long day. While my daughter and stepmother have been out shopping all day (a day shopping with Grandma, buying mostly windows, was S&F’s Chanukah present–and yes, there was a spending limit), and my wife has been traisping around buying windows as well (I hope), I’ve been busy.
The day started by preparing a leftover soup. Brisket, some spaghetti sauce with chicken, baby squash, celery, onions, greens, carrots… all in the slow cooker. Smells great.
Next, I met with one of my dad’s brokers. A very nice lady. I learned a lot about trusts, and how they work. Most importantly, I learned why I need to setup a trust and get my wills done. I checked with a few lawyers, and boy, are they expensive. One is $250/hr, and $1500 to set up the trusts and wills. The other is $275/hr, and didn’t send me (in email) the will/trust price. As before, recommendations in the Los Angeles area are welcome.
I then met with my dad’s accountant. Mostly, this was to see what I could throw out. There are now 8 boxes in the garage pending shredding. This doesn’t count my dad’s daily journals that date back to the 1950s, which I haven’t even touched yet! I also know what I’ll need to prepare with respect to a summary of assets, but it doesn’t look like we’ll reach the limit where an Estate Tax return will be triggered (which is a good thing).
Something tells me this will be a complicated tax return year coming up. Good thing I’m not my accountant!
One thing I’ll need to do is figure out what to do with a large collection of masonic and shrine materials my dad collected. For a long time, he was an active mason (32°) and later a shriner, but within the last 10 years, he demitted his membership. I’m trying to contact some folks from his old lodge to see if there are some leads on this.
I think we need a bumper sticker: Children: Don’t let your parents grow up to be packrats. Of course, one book on his bookshelf is a book on dealing with clutter.
Tomorrow, I’ll actually do some work-work from here, and then we (whew) go home! Friday night is our New Years Eve Board Gaming Party!
