Downsizing is a Challenge
Do you have a problem with downsizing? Overwhelmed with the details of handling a loved one’s estate? You may find this video helpful.
“Estate Property Distribution and Downsizing,” presented by Karen Hyatt, owner and manager EstatePros LLC, can help you get a handle on what you need to do when faced with dealing with a deceased loved one’s home and everything in it. In addition to the checklist below, she talks about properly storing items for preservation, making a floor plan for what to keep when moving to a smaller place, modifications for aging in place, and she provides tips to help you decide what to keep and what to let go.
Her presentation was one of the 2021 Before I Die New Mexico Festival sessions, held in-person in Albuquerque.
A Downsizing Checklist
Karen ran through a checklist of things to do when downsizing an estate:
- Inventory what you have.
- Get appraisals for jewelry, artwork, currency, silver, memorabilia, books and other items of value.
- Gift items to people you’d like to inherit specific pieces while you are still alive.
- Specify what items go to beneficiaries.
- Use consignment shops to sell some items.
- Make donations to charities for tax-deductible contributions.
- Deal with digital and paper documents.
- Properly dispose of items such as hazardous materials, medications, firearms, electronics, and recycle when you can.
Karen is the owner and manager of EstatePros, which is based in Santa Fe. EstatePros has helped families and individuals downsize, organize and distribute the contents of estates since 2011. Their website is www.EstateProsNM.com.
This presentation was part of the 5th annual Before I Die New Mexico Festival, held October 30 to November 2, 2021. The Before I Die Festival concept brings together entertaining and educational elements to start conversations. Events are designed to prompt baby boomers and their millennial children to plan ahead for end-of-life issues.
Festival Sponsors
Thank you to these companies and organizations that made the Before I Die NM Festival possible.
- A Good Goodbye – Gail Rubin puts the “fun” in funeral planning. AGoodGoodbye.com
- Beloved – providing custom personalized obituaries and eulogies. Beloved-Press.com
- Compassion & Choices – improving care, expanding options and empowering everyone to chart their end-of-life journey. www.CompassionandChoices.org
- Daniels Family Funerals & Cremations, Fairview Memorial Park, Gabaldon Mortuary, Sandia Memory Gardens and Vista Verde Memorial Park in Albuquerque.
- EstatePros LLC – offering professional dispersal of personal possessions due to a move, illness, or death. EstateProsNM.com
- Final Exit Network – educating about and defending the right to choose at end-of-life. FinalExitNetwork.org
- French Funerals & Cremations and Sunset Memorial Park in Albuquerque.
- GatheringUs – providing in-person and virtual memorial services and online memorial pages. GatheringUs.com
- Keeper – providing hybrid & virtual memorial services and keeping memories alive with online tributes to preserve, celebrate and share life legacies. MyKeeper.com
- Morris Hall PLLC – estate planning attorneys in New Mexico and Arizona. MorrisTrust.com
- Remembering A Life – your guide to honoring a life well lived, from planning a tribute to mourning a loved one. RememberingALife.com
- Retirement Extender® – investment management services with a personalized strategy recommendation based on your needs and objectives. RetirementExtender.com
A portion of the sponsorship proceeds and ticket sales from the Before I Die NM Festival were donated to 501(c)(3) charitable partner, Historic Fairview Cemetery, established in Albuquerque in 1881. The cemetery is the final resting place of 12,000 individuals, with remarkable stories reflecting the history of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the United States of America. The website is www.HistoricFairviewCemeteryABQ.org.