Bob was the oldest son of Ken and Sue Holmes. Responsible, hardworking and a successful business owner himself, Bob seemed to be the natural choice for serving as successor Trustee and Executor for Ken and Sue’s estate. Unfortunately, what Bob came to discover, serving as his parent’s estate fiduciary presented a number of hidden challenges which cost him a significant amount of time, money, and ultimately, the irreplaceable relationship of his only sibling and her family.
As his parents aged and began to struggle with dementia, Bob became responsible for the oversight of his parent’s financial affairs and ever-changing care needs. With the passing of Ken, and then Sue, additional responsibilities as representative of his parent’s respective estates was added to his already busy life. As Bob experienced, addressing this additional responsibility in the midst of losing his beloved parents added a significant element of emotion to these new and unfamiliar tasks.
Although Bob’s intentions were good, the additional time, stress and dealing with the admittedly confusing terms of estate documents filled with “legalese” was quite overwhelming. Bob did the best he could, when he could.