The probate process can be overwhelming, especially while you are managing your current life responsibilities while trying to grieve... I know how that feels, because I went through the process myself.

Well, my family did.

I watched my Dad navigate the extensive and and often times overwhelming process. Even with an attorney, he thought he had all he needed. 

Boy was he wrong...

In 2017, I lost my Grandma on my Dad's side and my Grandpa on my Mom's side all in the same year. 

This year carried a lot of grief with it as you can imagine. It struck me like a ton of bricks that neither grandparent on my Dad's side would see me get married, see me follow in my Grandfather's footsteps to start a business like my Grandpa did, and even see some of their great grand kids. It was a rough realization that got even worse.

What was especially difficult, was watching my dad juggle his duties as personal representative for his mom and dad’s estate while also running the family business. 

He obviously had never been through probate before, since your parents’ death and estate settlement only happens once. 

As executor, he had immense responsibilities. He was responsible for selling the house he grew up in, selling a recreational property, splitting up the financial assets, getting his siblings to agree on funeral arrangements, asset distribution timelines, and much more while living his already busy schedule. 

Needless to say, he was swamped. Even with a lawyer to help him in this process, he still made a mistake that delayed the entire process almost double what was required if he wouldn’t have made the mistake. 

His mistake? He didn’t file probate in the State of Hawaii where my Grandpa and Grandma owned a timeshare. This doubled the length of the process causing delays, undue hardship, and affected his peace of mind. 

That is when It dawned on me, I had a finance background, a real estate license, vendor connections, and thousands of investors that I could utilize in order to help families settle their estates, keep them from making mistakes, and help them retain their own financial futures in order to build their family’s legacies!

My combination of experience in Finance, real estate, and working at a consulting firm, all combined together were the tools I could use in order to start my very own estate settlement and investment planning company in order to become an entrepreneur but also help other families carry on their parents’ wealth and success to the next generations.

The plan became to find out all I could about the Probate Process. I studied the process in my local County courts, I took classes on the process, and I learned about the pitfalls and threats that executors and heirs face when settling their family’s estates.

I then built my team and vendor list to have all that would be required to help families through this process. This included:

I mustered up my college resourcefulness skill set, and decided to reach out to a lender contact of mine that had builder connections. He connected me with a builder who was interested in the house, and we went under contract. I then was able to help my client’s utilize retirement savings to make an offer on the neighboring house beating out a cash offer in the process before we had to close on the Seattle teardown. 

I utilized my CPA connection to ensure they didn’t have to pay capital gains on the Seattle rental teardown they had purchased years ago. Mission accomplished!

Through the process, I learned that helping families with their investments, assets, planning, and estate settlement was a the right type of business to start in order to build a lasting legacy across not just my family line, but other family lines as well. I realized to truly leave an impact for my family legacy, I needed to focus on how I could help others achieve their own family legacy goals so future generations across all America could continue to grow their family’s wealth and protect their assets.