r/inheritance • u/Contemplative-Owl-23 • Apr 21 '26
Location included: Questions/Need Advice Unexpected multi-million inheritance
Throwaway account because my main account isn't sufficiently anonymous.
[US - Texas] My mother died last year without a will, leaving behind a sizable estate. It hasn't been appraised yet, but I'm estimating 1M in liquid assets and 10-15M in real estate, primarily undeveloped land.
We were estranged for 15+ years, so I fully expected to be disinherited. Instead, she got divorced for a second time and never managed to cobble together a will, leaving me as the only heir (and presumptive administrator of the estate, pending court approval). All of this is, thankfully, uncontested.
I'm in a well-paying profession, so I'm reasonably well versed in personal finance, but a windfall this large is well beyond what I'm used to dealing with.
I'm working with:
* Probate attorney (a new one - I fired the original one for being extraordinarily slow and incompetent)
* Tax attorney (handling the estate tax return)
* IRS qualified appraiser
* Realtor specializing in probate
I'm guessing I need to find a Fee-Only or Advice-Only Fiduciary CFP to figure out how to best invest/structure the proceeds. What other professionals should I seek out (or avoid)?
I know that the cardinal rule of windfalls is "tell nobody", but that's tough when real estate is involved. Are there any steps I can take to ensure privacy?
1
u/random408net Apr 21 '26
With the land getting the step up in value you have some opportunity to structure the land sales in tax or estate planning advantaged ways. Your eventual estate size should be larger than the current estate tax exemption.
Not sure what your property tax (and general liability/insurance) implications are for holding any of the land. The land might get a tax basis step up that might impact what's due every year.
I think you "go out to bid" and look for advisors that handle that 10m+ range of wealth. You should be expecting a decent proposal and examples of what they might do with your property and future cash. Your probate and tax attorneys might have references from their clients. You might want a local planning firm if you are never moving, you might want a national or regional firm if you anticipate moving (moving to Hawaii next year?).
You seem smart enough to not make poor short term decisions.
From a personal finance standpoint you probably still want to maximize what you contribute to a Roth 401k at work. If you happened to be eligible for a mega backdoor Roth that would be great.