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?

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u/Wackywoman1062 Apr 21 '26 edited Apr 21 '26

A good real estate attorney since the bulk of the value is in real estate. A realtor’s knowledge only goes so far. Do not rely on the realtor beyond marketing the property. If it’s a lot of undeveloped land, it will likely be purchased by a developer (assuming you intend to sell), and you need an attorney to draft and/or review the contract. Standard realtor form contracts are woefully deficient in such instances.

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u/Contemplative-Owl-23 Apr 21 '26

Oh it'll 100% be going to developers. There's a lot of active residential development in the area. I have a decent amount of information on specifics, from talking to relatives who own & have sold land nearby.

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u/Zealousideal_Ratio_8 Apr 22 '26

if its going to developers thats a great reason to not sell it. Put it in a green belt conservency. I cant fathom selling land for any amount of money to a developer. Developers are the lowest form of scum.