A mixed bag

Greetings from Estate Land! It feels like I live here, digging my way through papers and policies and deeds, etc. I am very tired of this, but there is progress to report.

Snoopy came through! I received a check for $5,600 from MetLife from policies my grandmother and dad took out on my mother back in the late 1940s and mid 1950s. It took a lot of phone calls, letters, and even some yelling, but the check was deposited into my account this morning. Hopefully another check is on the way for the sale of MetLife stocks. Keep your fingers crossed. This money could help me dig out from under the debt my mom's service left me with.

We should be out of the house soon. My kid sister believes she's on track to have everything personal/unsellable out of my mom's place so an estate sale can be held and we can be done with all of that portion of the program by 12/31. I know this is hard for her, and I'm sorry. But it has to be done and I can't wait for it to be behind us.

It may be time to switch lawyers. My lawyer has been very generous in giving me advice but he's reluctant to take the reins. Frankly he handles estates much larger than my mother's (let's face it -- all she left was debt) and he tells me I can't afford to have him represent me, making calls or appearing in court. These are all things I can do pro se, he says, saving myself money. But I don't wanna! And not just because I find addressing the court daunting. I'm scared that I will put a foot wrong and cost my sisters and me money. So before the end of the year, I think I'm going to have to go lawyer shopping.

I wish this was all done. I hate being an adult.