Children of hoarders are often left with the task of cleaning up and shifting through a home filled with possessions after their hoarding parent passes away. A typical clean-up of a hoarder’s home can cost from $5,000 to $20,000 or more depending on regulations regarding disposal of hazardous materials, the condition of the home, and the severity of the hoarding. Typically, the sheer amount of hoarded objects makes finding specific objects of sentimental or financial significance virtually impossible. Clean-ups can last months, requiring the hoarder’s children to take time away from work and forcing them forgo participating in social and family activities.
See Hannah R. Buchdahl, An Unwanted Inheritance: For children of hoarders, the mess remains after the parents pass away, Newsweek, Jul. 26, 2011.
Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (WealthCounsel) for bringing this article to my attention.
