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[quote=Anonymous]Been there, done that. Will be kicking myself for the rest of my life that I didn't find out sooner what a total disaster my parents finances were. If I had acted sooner, perhaps the damage would have been less and I could have averted some of the loss.

They owed several hundred thousand to the IRS. I guided them through a process called an "offer in compromise" where we demonstrated that they had no ability to pay. The debt was written off.

They owed several hundred thousand to banks and credit card companies. They had to declare bankruptcy (and I guided them through this process also, doing all the paperwork for them). Those debts were written off too, meaning that they lost their house as part of it. And oh by the way, in going through their papers I discovered that they'd been making awful financial decisions [i]their whole life[/i]; credit cards taken away, properties foreclosed on, etc. I knew nothing of this at the time.

The only good news was that they had long term care insurance, so we moved them into an assisted living facility, where they are to this day.

The main lesson is that you MUST be pushy and find out EXACTLY what the situation is, because it may very well land in YOUR lap. I spent hundreds of hours of my life dealing with their problems at the same time I had two kids under 5. It was tough.[/quote]

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