relevant or essential heirlooms, papers, documents and expensive items. This process may take days—or longer, if the heirs are separated by distance from the home, from one another, or both. After this, an auction service or a consignment shop can be contacted for the sale of valuable items at fees that average around 25% to 30% of the sale price. The other items that are not sold can be given away or donated to charity organizations. This might be a tedious task because the heir to the house could be living far from the property’s location, making it difficult to locate a charity establishment in that vicinity with any real certainty of its quality. Items of no importance or of minimal value that are left in the house can be hauled out by a cleaning company at prices which are dependent on the contents of the house and the size of items to be hauled away. If there are many items to be carried away, the price may become cause for concern. Heirs who live outside the area will have to rely heavily on the help of real estate agents for regular supervision of ongoing activities in their absence. It can get complicated when there are two or more siblings who inherit a home, because each will likely have a different opinion on the price the property should be sold for. Also, multiple heirs will have differing opinions on the inspection of the house and the type of attorney needed because each sibling will have different values—both financial and emotional—in mind. It is the executor who makes the final determination. Where the executor is also a sibling, those determinations can lead to arguments and a breakdown in family relations, so be cautious! For tax considerations, the tax basis of the inheritance is the value of the home on the day the owner of the willed property died. The difference between the home’s value and the amount
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