My father (and my dog) were wronged and killed in a motor vehicle collision. There are four separate legal proceedings involving this matter already due to the nature of the accident and I am lucky to be able to meet some wrongful death and probate attorneys who are helping with that...but I don't have anyone qualified around me to help with the financial stuff...which is of course what I really need the most help with. He was my only relative and he normally helped me with this kind of stuff.
I assumed that we were poor and deeply in debt when I was a kid and it turns out that we were, but my father started a company in the last few years and apparently really turned everything around. I had no idea of his accounts and possessions until we started going through his office this week and it's startling. Here is what I know if his estate.
- a house, probably valued $150K, paid for in cash
- a classic vehicle, restored, his joy...probably $6K
- extensive custom furniture
- the car in the accident basically disintegrated; a value of $8K has been suggested
- nominal checking account, under $3K, currently being used to keep the electric and water on in the aforementioned house
- retirement account: $550K+
- there's probably a second retirement account that I have not found yet, but he used to complain about having a second retirement account that was unpredictable or volatile or something...?
- there's stock but I'm honestly unsure of what stock even is, never mind how to interpret his self-managed portfolio
- nominal credit card debt (still determining what this is; he had several that he paid off every month in exchange for travel rewards)
- life insurance, $50K
- he was the sole employee of a highly successful LLC that he formed; the work cannot continue without him because he had an extremely specific consultancy skill so this needs to be dissolved or sold to another consultant
My plans thus far are as follows.
- pay off my $3K in medical debt
- use the $8K car settlement for a commuter car for myself
- keep the house and convert it to a rental or an AirBnB
- keep the classic vehicle, somehow, not because i love it but because I think that he might actually come back to life and kill me if I sold it without at least trying to learn to love it like he did
I otherwise just need your help or an adviser or something. I am really young, super broke, uneducated, and very afraid of fucking up this secret legacy that my father was building. I have always been afraid of money. I had a small and embarrassing meltdown when I realized that suddenly I have more than any one person should have and that I neither earned nor deserve this. I am incredibly concerned about the LLC; am I liable for the clients who miss their appointments and deadlines due to my father not delivering their ordered content? How do I sell a business or make it go away? Where should the rest of this liquid estate go? I don't really want it but everyone acts personally affronted when I suggest that.
Submitted March 06, 2020 at 05:58PM by forwardaboveallelse https://ift.tt/2PUNNgW
