Parting With Our Home In The Palm Desert : (
Hi Everyone,
So much loss, it seems like it's been downhill for so long, well, since Mom died and people have taken advantage and stolen from us non-stop. For my dear friends who have kindly refrained from deleting me after such a long absence due to grief and legal wrangling that made it unwise to be as open as I had been before, I just want to say thank you and I love you.
We have to let go of so much just to settle estate debts which are beyond all comprehension. We hired a top lawyer to help us through the first part of this hellish experience and we won, but what we won is what we were meant to have had all along and even though we came to an this agreement that gives me back control over my own home and things, rather than risk any further expensive litigation and debt. I am grateful for having been able to wrest control of my Mother's now impoverished estate back, even if it did mean letting people off and never recovering damages. Nothing could really undo the emotional damage or the fact that we had to take out hard money loans just to pay for the legal fees and that now we are having to find ways to solve all of this. And I haven't even mentioned taxes which are punitive in the extreme, (trusts don't protect you from having to pay estate taxes -- I thought I'd include this because everyone asks me this when I bring this up).
When Mom passed away it was 2008 and the law then was that the IRS gets to take about 50% of everything you inherit beyond a certain allowance that didn't even cover our two homes. The value of what I inherited is what we are disputing now, I couldn't even begin to pay what they think I owe and what I was backed into signing after hours of arguing with very little notice, and all of the original figures were based on estimates created by high school and golf buddies of the team of lawyers who tried to muscle me out in the first place. At the time I was told by my layers paralegal that it was more important to file on time, even if the figures were insane. Besides she herself, working with my tax attorney had amended these things from millions to nothing, not to worry...
Then, remember we're talking 2008, the housing market collapsed and suddenly everything we had was worth half of what it had once been, and everything we had was in the ground, at overinflated estimated values because guess what? If you're the trustee of an estate the amount you base the salary on that you will receive for the rest of your life is based on a percentage of the original estate's value, and how do we determine that? By asking our friends to determine the value of everything and then putting these amounts on a tax form and telling the IRS that Jacqui basically owes them roughly a million and a half dollars. OH MY GOD!!!!
So basically super unkind people took most of my family's best, once inventoried possessions, little by little over a long time, others took the cash, and the IRS wants the rest.
You can see why we've had to list our beloved family vacation home in the desert. I'm sure you remember all the pictures I've posted through the years of road runners, cacti, flowers, sunsets, mountains, etc., well, this is that house. We spent at least a month making it look lovely to a brokers standards and because we need the money so badly we've listed it, (along with two buildings I own in Indio), for a hundred thousand less than the exact same house sold for around the corner about a month ago. We're asking 300,000. which will barely cover the loan. Sorry I know my problems are nothing compared to some of yours, it's just so shockingly hard to grieve and fight at the same time, and to have to give up things that your son loves so much and that feel like they're a part of you.
Every day I'm thinking, "What can I sell, what can I sell?" And the bills keep pouring in, and they're HUGE. Poor Mom, no wonder she was so stressed out. I feel so sorry for her. Anyway I just wanted to see if I could make my journal work again, (like I said it had been set to friends only and there's still a bunch of missing information, basically things I wouldn't want some judge to be able to look at in some brief that would make her or him think I was incapable of running my own affairs, but I'll find a way to put them back. Scott -- my man songmon here on LJ -- worked on this for hours and we're going to give it a test run with this post. I'll provide more pics and linkage later. For now I'm just grateful any of you are still here.
Big Enormous Hugs From Your Old Friend,
Jacqui
