When Inheritance is a Mixed Blessing

We've all seen the movie where the family hears the reading of the will. The one who inherits everything is often the target of tremendous anger, but unless "everything" is a giant container of Benjamins, the heir will likely spend at least a year turning all the assets into real cash. Thus is the burden of objects.

There are two very different kinds of inheritance. The first is the ordinary basket of Real Estate, its Contents, and Financial Accounts etc. The second, and MUCH more complicated, is Industrial Inheritance--that's when you're talking about warehouse and commercial inventory, machines and equipment--not stuff you can just throw out in the yard for a quick sale.

If you stand to inherit a business from your parents, you really need to prepare for this daunting challenge. We have handled several commercial liquidations, and each has presented a unique set of hurdles. The greatest obstacle is always TIME--time to assess, sort, move and eventually monetize what is often multiples of identical retail or commercial goods. After you've come up with a realistic timetable, your next greatest challenge is STORAGE, or, in other words, a place large enough to secure the inventories while they can be sold off.

If you don't have the square footage to accommodate an orderly liquidation, you could run into a fire sale situation where you have to dump the merchandise for pennies. Our advice is to seek out a firm that can help you understand the scale and marketability of what you're dealing with, and INSIST on both time and space to achieve an equitable sale of the estate. If you need help, give us a call.