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Can an Executor Clear out a home?

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nnichols

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Maryland

I was asked by my uncle's 2 sisters to be executor of his estate. He never married, parents deceased, & no children. He left almost no cash. The value of his estate is in the home. He had moved from his home prior to his death as it was completely run down and not inhabitable. The house if filled floor to ceiling with trash. What would have been of minor value is now ruined by a severe mold problem. The home happens to be in a part of Baltimore city that is very trendy for investors to pick up old homes, completely gut them & start from scratch, so I know that the home will sell once it has been cleared. So, here are my questions:
-Can I just go in, rent a dumpster, & clear out the home so that it can be sold?
-Do I have to list or document all of the trash & mold damaged items prior to throwing them out?
-It is going to be a huge undertaking, as there are approx 7 truck loads of trash, will his creditors come after me or the estate if it takes too long?
Thanks & sorry so long.
 


las365

Senior Member
You should perform some sort of inventory prior to disposing of the property. Video and/or photographs should be very helpful in accomplishing this.
 
While certainly not required, you might also mention your plan to the aunts and ask them (if they are located conveniently) to see if they want to come look and see if they want anything from the house before it is all thrown out.

Again, while not required, it would be a nice gesture to ensure no "why did yous" when its all gone ...

... and, if its as bad as it sounds, it will certainly earn you their gratitude for taking on this project!
 

Farfalla

Member
While certainly not required, you might also mention your plan to the aunts and ask them (if they are located conveniently) to see if they want to come look and see if they want anything from the house before it is all thrown out.

Again, while not required, it would be a nice gesture to ensure no "why did yous" when its all gone ...

... and, if its as bad as it sounds, it will certainly earn you their gratitude for taking on this project!
I agree that letting the aunts take what they want might be a good idea. There might be some family treasures or some real treasures under all the mildew and trash.

And remember what might be trash to you might be a treasure to someone else.

Here's how we handled a similar problem when my mom died. First we cleaned up and threw out the trash. But she had some wonderful things.. paintings, furnature, china, a bit of jewlery etc. One of my sisters took photos of all these things and emailed the photos to our all of my mom's 8 children and all of the grand children. Each person then sent in a request listing which of the items they wanted. Than we divided my mom's things according to the requests. Interesting was that most things were only requested by one person... on the items that multiple people wanted the split them as equitably as they could. It worked out every well.

And for some reason I also got all the boxes with the things that no one requested... so it was a lot of trips to good will.

Good luck to you... sounds like you have a hard task in front of you.
 

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