Client Case Study: The Out-Of-State Farm
“Bill and his team took my complex estate issue, did the legwork, and gave me a simple, straightforward plan.”
Thinking of buying that vacation home in a different state?
Do you plan to keep your current home even though you're moving across the country?
While these could be great investments and generate substantial income, they also could cause headaches for your heirs.
In 2024 Barry contacted Reluctant Executor for help with his mom's estate. Before her death, he worked with Reluctant Executor to complete his mom's Estate Map. This gave him a huge head start in tackling her estate, but there were still some unexpected tasks.
Barry and his mom both were Texas residents. He runs his own business, and spends time with his wife and teenage son. Even though running his own business gave him flexibility to work on his mom's estate, it still ate into the time needed to keep up with his business and family commitments.
What is an Estate Map?
An Estate Map is a document you create to guide your family to the important information they will need when you pass away. You can add as much or as little detail as needed. Download our Estate Map template to get started.
The Challenge
One of the most time consuming tasks was to figure out what needed to be done for a farm that his mom owned in Virginia. Barry's estate lawyer was based in Texas, where Barry's mom was a resident. The out-of-state property could not be probated in Texas, so the estate lawyer could not help. Yet, this property was part of the will and needed to be passed on to the heirs.
In addition to the challenge of out-of-state probate, Barry didn't even know the address to the property! He wanted the address before contacting people that could help value and probate it. He had property tax information, but the only address listed was his mom's Texas residence as the owner. On top of all that, he knew that a solar company was buying property in the area for solar farms. He wanted to understand his options to maximize the value of the farm and how that would impact the inheritance.
Every time Barry started this research on his own, he got distracted. He was handling many other estate closure tasks, and when you lose someone close to you, your mind inevitably recalls memories associated with the things you're researching. Barry recognized this task would drag on if left up to him, so he reached out to Reluctant Executor for help.
The Solution
Barry provided the information he had about the property, which was a city property tax bill. While this didn't have the property address, it did have a legal description and some long numbers that looked like a type of property ID. The first step was to plug these into Google. Even if the search doesn’t return a perfect match, the results can give clues to where to go next. In this case, the results returned what appeared to be the name of a neighborhood and a street address. While the street address was not the one for this property, it narrowed the search to a specific area.
Municipalities typically have property information online, so we searched for that city's property website. Sure enough, we were taken to a GIS property search portal. In the portal's search box, we entered the apparent property ID, and the map jumped to a location associated with that number. A link within that parcel boundary redirected to another site, which had more detailed information about that parcel. This information matched the data on the tax bill, so we confirmed this was the correct property.
What is a GIS map?
GIS stands for Geographical Information System. A GIS map is a map with data layers overlayed, giving a visual representation of spatial and geographical data. In this case study, the GIS map was helpful to see property boundaries and adjacent streets.
One thing that was missing from this data was the exact address. Neighboring parcels showed a full address, but the matching one did not show a street number. After further research, we learned that Virginia only assigns street numbers to properties with physical structures. This farm did not have a house built on it, so its address only had a street name, no street number.
Now that the family knew exactly where this property was located and able to give street addresses of nearby properties, it was much easier to contact people that could help with valuating and probating the property. Reluctant Executor vetted multiple Realtors and estate lawyers in the area using trusted referrals. We provided a short list of recommendations to Barry. He was then able to focus his calls on specific details that pertained to his situation. He did not have to waste time asking general questions.
The Results
Reluctant Executor sent weekly updates to Barry, and the final report was sent out after just 3 weeks. The bulk of these 3 weeks was spent in back-and-forth communication with prospective Realtors and estate lawyers. By sending weekly updates, Barry could ask questions about the research and start contacting referrals if he chose. Instead, he waited until all of the vetting was completed and then selected a Realtor and estate lawyer within days of receiving the list from Reluctant Executor.
Barry had more productive conversations since he was already armed with the information we provided. He was able to further vet the referrals by inquiring about the impact that local solar companies, which were already operating close to his mom's farm, had on its value. He estimated that it would have taken him months to get to this stage on his own.
What We Learned
Reducing the stress for families that are going through estate administration is Reluctant Executor's top priority. Along the way, we learn things that can help others. In helping Barry and his family, we identified 3 of these learnings.
The state of Virginia only assigns street numbers to properties with physical structures. While there is no standard practice, most states are similar in that they do not assign a street number unless there is a request to build on the property. For families that are trying to track down vacant lots, farms, or other properties that don't have buildings, keep this in mind. You may have to use a different identifier, like the legal description, to reference the property.
Ancillary probate is the term used when an estate needs to open probate in more than one state. Since different states have different estate laws, property owned in states other than the residence of the deceased may need to go through a separate probate process.
Not all professionals that work with clients offer free consultations. A free consultation is an opportunity to make sure that both parties are comfortable working with each other and to understand the scope of the engagement. The only cost to each party is the time spent, usually limited to 30 or 60 minutes. In contacting estate lawyers for this case, multiple offices told me they could schedule a consultation for us to learn more about their practice, but it would be charged at the lawyer’s hourly rate. If you need to schedule time to vet a professional, confirm before scheduling if this time is offered for free or charged.
“Bill was amazing in locating the Virginia farm property address and provided several GIS maps to show exactly where it is located. The time saved by him going out and finding vetted land real estate agents and estate lawyers was huge, and it made the ancillary probate process so much easier and smoother for me.”
If you have a complex estate issue that falls outside the scope of your estate lawyer, email us for a free consultation at Bill@ReluctantExecutor.com.