Hi! Throwaway account because, well, the title. Longstory short, I'm 26 but was a ward of the court to my grandparents the second of whom recently passed. Since 1 year old I was raised by my grandparents which is why I had a strong enough relationship with them that even though for paperwork reasons the estate is split 50/50, the final arrangement of things was such that I either inherited the business properties (my grandparents had a small number of rental units) or ultimate authority over how the trust fund that everything is a part of would decide how to manage the properties. I also inherited a nice house which I'm grateful for but I've done enough research that I know roughly how to handle that specific part. The complicated bit is that the reason I inherited so much and so much control is because, while she's done better in recent years, my mother ultimately is unpredictable and I promised my grandfather who recently passed that I would keep track of things enough to ensure that even if things went south for her she wouldn't be derelict. I know that's a large burden and the advice from the estate lawyers I've met with has essentially been "you can't save her" and I acknowledge this as true. But I didn't have a great youth and owe my grandfather a lot so I'm willing to take on the burden of ensuring my mother's living expenses are paid. I've accepted that I can't save her from any bad habits she has but I want to make sure there's money to pay any court fees that might come up and just generally provide food on the table.
Logistics wise we make a little under 100k, pre-taxes, from the rental properties. This literally all just happened so that's why I don't have the post-tax number but I'm working on getting it. Right now, my house is small but in a nice location so taxes are high. My mothers house is in a similar area but not nearly as highly taxed location wise but the house has a little debt on it. I'm in college but generally staying on top of things. Right now the plan is to meet with the estate lawyers and my grandfather's tax guy to sort out the various inputs and outputs but after that my current line of thinking is focusing on food -> taxes -> any remaining debt on the properties -> vanguard fund. Is this a terrible priority order or am I generally on the right track? My grandparents didn't struggle in their later years but they were depression babies so I was raised with cheap tastes, I don't mind keeping my food and fun expenses cheap to ensure that the rental properties are leveraged as fully as possible for growing savings without incurring more debt. The only side plans I have right now are that I mentioned to my mother she might consider an airbnb since her house has two spare bedrooms albeit small ones since it seemed like an easy project to give her that wouldn't affect the overall estate. Am I wrong in that or screwing up anywhere else in particular?
Submitted March 11, 2017 at 06:55AM by 71-58712-38456127356 http://ift.tt/2lNorEu
