While the tax professional was planning the estate income tax returns, I decided to clean up the decedent’s home office. Early in the administration I set up my home office to administer the estate. However, I moved only the documents and property needed to properly administer the estate. Consequently, I left the rest of the documents and property in the decedent’s home office. So, while in limbo, I thought it was a good time to finally clean up the decedent’s home office.

Cleaning up the Decedent’s Home Office

On June 3, 2013, I began a series of tasks to clean up the decedent’s home office. The following tasks took a week to complete:

• Deposited the home insurance refund check into the estate account. After selling the rental property I cancelled the home insurance.
• Shredded many old tax returns no longer necessary to hold.
• Shredded old business documents and meaningless personal files.
• Threw out broken electronics.
• Disassembled the decedent’s personal computer, destroyed the hard drive, and took the remains to the town yard.

On June 10, 2013, the cleanup of the decedent’s home office was complete. There was only one more task remaining directly related to the decedent.

The Final Task for the Decedent

On June 19, 2013, I set out to inspect the grave site of the decedent; the final task. Earlier in the administration, I arranged for the engraving of the decedent’s name on the headstone and to have the veteran’s plaque placed at the foot of the grave. The engraver completed the task back in April; so on this day, I took the time to inspect the grave site. As I approached the grave site, I could tell the headstone was perfect. The grave site was right next to the street in the cemetery and I saw the name in perfect alignment. So, after parking the car and walking to the grave site, everything was in place. However, a lot of debris piled up on the grave site since the funeral. So, I spent some time cleaning up the grave site and remembering the decedent.

As I drove away from the cemetery, the moment was bittersweet. While driving I realized that I never properly mourned the loss of the decedent. As an acting executor, the action starts right away as described in the article The Day of Death is a Call to Action for an Acting Executor. Therefore, I never had the time to properly mourn. Anyway, further along on the drive, I also realized that the only tasks remaining were probate related tasks. So, the sorrow quickly turned to an unwavering focus to completing this cumbersome estate successfully. When I arrived home, it was the end of an emotionally draining day.

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