The homeowner’s association threw me a curve ball on my plan to distribute the personal possessions. In a letter sent by the homeowner’s association, the association President wanted to know when the spare garage would be available for the next homeowner. This is when I found out that the spare garage was available for rent to each homeowner, based on need, for no longer than three years. My Uncle rented the garage for six years. In the end, I asked for one more month and the President of the homeowner’s association agreed. I had only one month to execute the plan I described in the article The Distribution of Personal Possessions.

Adjusting the Plan

Because nothing in the original distribution plan changed, the letter from the homeowner’s association didn’t present a problem, just a nuisance. In addition to the original plan, a couple of extra tasks became necessary, which accelerated the plan. In the end, the plan for distribution looked as follows:     

• Distribute the personal possessions by family.
• Arrange for the pickup of trash from the spare garage.
• Clean out the spare garage.

The Plan put into Action

After assessing the situation and amending the original plan, I acted quickly. Initially, I contacted the beneficiaries in a group email. In this email, I described the plan for distribution and the situation that forced me to accelerate the process. Everyone understood and was willing to comply with the plan. Now that the beneficiaries bought into the plan for distribution, I did the following to execute the plan:

• First, I established a deadline to complete the distribution by contacting a junk removal company and set a date to haul off the junk in the spare garage. I set the date so that I could have a couple of days to clean out the garage.

• Next, I alerted the beneficiaries of the deadline and the need to pick up their possessions before the deadline.

• Finally, I set dates with family delegates to pick up their possessions.

Since the possessions put aside for distribution were of sentimental value to the surviving families, the distribution went well. Everybody was happy with what they received. A couple of beneficiaries wanted items that didn’t belong to my Uncle, but they didn’t make a fuss when I told them the item wasn’t part of the estate. Anyway, the process took two weeks to complete which gave me plenty of time to prepare for the junk removal and to clean out the spare garage.

Completing the Plan

On the last day, I washed down the spare garage and handed over the keys to the next homeowner. The distribution of personal possessions was complete.

Do you think I did the right thing in distributing the possessions before I got my approval letter? Would you have handled this situation differently? Share your thoughts in the comments below.