8 replies to this topic

[DeadSquare]

I had a mild stroke last February, and so I'm wondering:-

 

What should I do to make it easier for who ever has to tidy up after me ?

 

 

[nicklouse]

Sorry to hear that. My old man had a heart attack the other week.

 

not having seen your shed but having heard about it. I would try and identify things of individual high value that could make good money on their own, and other boxes of stuff that has value.

 

the easiest option is just to have Pughs sort it out.

 

if you need a hand give me a shout.

[IronmanG]

Not an easy subject. I helped my best mate a couple of years ago to empty his Dad's sheds. He died 10 years ago after a quick bout with big C, so it was left a long time. He was mini mad with a garage and 2 sheds.
Me and a friend took a few mini bits and tools etc, and we condensed it into 1 shed.
I would say sell off the parts and tools to people in the know as others do not understand the value or appreciate the effort.
Wittle it down to a few bits you might need to make it easier. I would hate to think anything would be thrown away after all your efforts to save stuff.

[mab01uk]

As well as a Will it is important to make a lasting power of attorney (LPA) which allows you to give someone you trust the legal power to make decisions on your behalf in case you later become unable to make decisions for yourself or communicate them. You could then provide details of what your garage contains, its value and where would be the best place to sell or donate the items to. This would avoid family or a relative with no idea what your garage contains being ripped off at a stressful time by an unscrupulous buyer or everything being scrapped/dumped during a house clearance or going in a skip....sadly I've seen that happen a few times.

 

A will decides what happens to your assets if you die. Power of Attorney, what happens to your assets if you lose your faculties – you're still alive and you may have your own care and family that you need to look after, but you're no longer capable of doing it yourself.

 

'What is the difference between being Power of Attorney and executor of a will? 

"Power of Attorney; when you're alive. Executors; when you're dead."

https://www.moneysav...er-of-attorney/

Edited by mab01uk, 30 December 2023 - 10:42 AM.

[Homersimpson]

I've not had to do this yet although I am clearing out some of my garages at my mums because there is so much stuff, so far in the last 3 months i've sold over £1100 worth of stuff and the truth is that if something happened to me it would probably all just end up chucked in the bin as the people left behind wouldn't know what any of it was and what was and wasn't valuable.

 

Even I have been surprised at what sells and what doesn't.

 

If its something concerning you I would suggest selling of as much as you can of the stuff you aren't going to use/need and then keep the rest and list out what it is and what it might be worth and leave that with the stuff for people in future.

[bpirie1000]

My fear is the wife sells the bits for what I told her they cost...

I had to clear z good friends garage out when is now widow decided to move house, was thought for her to go through things.. little at a time and be ruthless.

Having done that my frame of mind changed. Keep minis on the road... not to keep bits stockpiled in a shed....

[Shooter63]

I've done this twice in 2 years, once for my father and once for my father-in-law, my father was a tat collector, the amount of ******* we uncovered was amazing, for every usable item we found there must of been 20 bits of crap with no use, no sentimental value or anything, my father-in-law was the total opposite, he only kept anything he thought he would use in his latter years.
This sticky subject has come up at home and I've decided it wouldn't be correct for me to leave my Mrs with the job of trying to sell off my workshop and shed contents, so the thinning down has begun and will continue until I'm down to what I believe is the minimum that I will need from now on, this even goes down to a competition car that hasn't moved a wheel in 3 years, I've got blocks, heads, cranks and rods for various engines that I'll never use, so they will all go. I've given my Mrs a list of phone numbers who will take the big stuff ( lathe, milling machine etc) if I die suddenly. I know this seems a bit morbid to some but I don't want to lump my Mrs with the job.

Shooter

[Homersimpson]

I've not had to do this yet although I am clearing out some of my garages at my mums because there is so much stuff, so far in the last 3 months i've sold over £1100 worth of stuff and the truth is that if something happened to me it would probably all just end up chucked in the bin as the people left behind wouldn't know what any of it was and what was and wasn't valuable.

 

Even I have been surprised at what sells and what doesn't.

 

If its something concerning you I would suggest selling of as much as you can of the stuff you aren't going to use/need and then keep the rest and list out what it is and what it might be worth and leave that with the stuff for people in future.

Just to add to this, I did have to deal with my brothers estate and although he didn't have a load of car bits he had a whole shed full of books and we couldn't bring ourselves to throw them away so my wife donated them to charity and some care homes a bit at a time.

 

I had to sort out his bank accounts of which there were 32 most of which had about £1 in where he had moved money out of them and not closed them leaving just a final interest payment from the bank in them.  From this experience its worth closing down any account that your not using as some of the banks were really hard to deal with to get details of the balance even when we had the correct paperwork, one didn't even understand the difference between an executor and an administrator (I was the latter) and kept saying they could only deal with the executor even though there was no will.

[Java_Green]

Where I live I experience that there are those "smart ases" that utilize "older people's" goodwill and will to help out (or devastated widow), and collect and store away stuff that is hard to get - this for small amounts of money or nothing at all. Particularly S unique parts. If you ask them, the parts are for sale and that for prices close to its weight in gold and they expect it to increase even further as time goes by.
My major concern with this is that, restoring or repairing something unique get so expensive that it ends up as an investment hobby and not for the petrol head's that really appreciate the cars. Furthermore, not mint cars and cars with minor problems will get scrapped (maybe for parts, likely as scrap) cause the people that are up for the job can't afford getting it back on the road.

A bit off topic and still closely related....