Managing an Inheritance

[ml2620]

My great-aunt Millie died eight years ago, leaving a $7 million dollar estate to her eight neices and nephews (including my mom). Of course, my mother's cousins went sue happy and between the huge sums of money paid out to attorney's and the drop in the real estate market, the end game is that my mom will be getting about $175K in the next coming weeks.

After the trauma of years of lawyers and court battles, my parents are adamant that they aren't paying any more lawyers or professionals for help and advice on the money.

I have no concerns about them blowing the money, I have no interest in the money but want to make sure they take care of themselves. They are determined to pay off their mortgage and credit card debt, cars, etc. - but they are not very financially saavy and I'm concerned about pitfalls that might cause them to lose even more of the inheritance. I'd like them to make sure they avoid paying any unnecessary taxes, bank fees or whatever but they are so insistent on not paying anyone else for advice or help!

What are some good resources for educating myself and my parents about these types of issues?

[lisaflex]

if they are unused to having this amount of money available to them, i would insist they get an advisor.

[Greebo]

I agree, they need professional assistance with that kind of money.

I would suggest first that they read Dave Ramsey's, "The Total Money Makeover" and also attend "Financial Peace University".

[MaryCarney]

They should not have to pay any taxes at all - it's not that much $$ (in the world of inheritances, that is)
Paying off debt and socking the rest in CD's while they educate themselves would be a risk-free way of handling it for now.

[lisaflex]

it just depends on how the "inheritance" was set up...was it in a trust? that all depends on how the planner originally did it....i dont think we have enough info to say that they wont pay taxes.