Clearing estate over Zoom

Clearing a deceased estate on behalf of loved ones is one of the more frequent projects that we tackle. It is at a particularly trying time for the family and having a professional person empathetically take over the job of sorting the possessions relieves a tremendous burden for the family.

When the family of a loved one passes away, we become their de facto ears, eyes and sorters when it comes to clearing the estate. We recently had one such project where the deceased had no family in South Africa. We’ll call him John for purposes of privacy but will tell you how we helped his sisters to settle the affairs on his home.

HOW CLEARING A DECEASED ESTATE WORKS

We communicated with John’s sisters, one was in Australia and the other was in Canada, so we had regular Zoom calls while going through the wishes of the will and also the sisters need to say goodbye.

John had been ill for a long time and his family were enormously grateful to the staff at his retirement village who had nursed and cared for him but who had also become his companions and friends during this time.

On John’s passing, it was their wish that his belongings were not sold but rather as thanks to the special staff they wanted his belongings to be gifted to them. We facilitated this process for the family by giving all staff an opportunity to indicate what they would like.

We facilitated this process, coordinated and finalised the list, arranged for collection and delivery of items where necessary. We also facilitated the packaging and sending of various special items to the sisters in Australia and Canada.  The final step in this project is to assist the family to sell the client’s vehicle which we have presently arranged storage for and will facilitate on their behalf as soon as they have the legal process in place to do so.

wHAT THEY SAID

“Clear Path under the direction of Marylou Bawden helped us settle our dear brother’s estate. Both my sister and I live out of South Africa and needed help to do this. Marylou’s empathy, sensitivity and deep understanding of our sadness managed all the details and resolution of his possessions and diligently fulfilled all our wishes. We could not have worked with anyone kinder or more organized. Thank you very much Marylou from our hearts,” said Irene Barlow Rademeyer in a feedback review.

Then as with all projects, we arranged the final cleaning of the home to ready it to hand back to the retirement village. 

“Losing a loved one when you are not able to be with them is a very difficult thing to have to go through and being able to help this family at this time was a privilege for us,” concludes Bawden.

Click here for more about our deceased estate service.
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