Case Studies

A wealthy widow had plastic surgery, but the stitches failed, causing her to bleed to death in her bed. Immediately there was a dispute over who received the inheritance – but where was the will? She had down-sized to a small apartment and a storage locker, but the will had eluded numerous searches by each of the possible heirs.

A man with a penchant for fast cars, motorcycles, and boats sold off parts of the family ranch to fund his hobby. This included leasing the only access to his property to a cell tower. Getting to the property was only the first challenge. The estate was in dispute, the will could not be found, and the deadline was only days away.

A townhome in the Texas hill country stood empty while the estate was in dispute. But vacant properties rarely remain that way. A squatter had pried an air conditioner out of the wall to gain entrance. A charcoal barbecue was set up on the back deck, and a mini fridge had an extension cord connected to a neighbor’s exterior outlet.

The Realtor who first saw this 1970’s era property, that had suffered years of neglect, concluded it was likely just a scrape-off. But once DBD Estate Services emptied and cleaned the property, landscaped, and performed minor repairs, that changed everything.
Two weeks after the property was listed for sale it sold for over $1.2 million, providing a tremendous benefit to the heirs.

An deceased attorney leaves his estate to his heirs, but failed to let any of them know he was in the middle of a tax dispute, and the IRS had liens on the property that has be disbursed.

A disputed estate stood empty. In the mean time, RV campers disappeared from the property, the house became a hang-out for drug addicts, and back yard turned into a homeless encampment complete with piles of stolen items from surrounding neighborhood.

The animosity between two siblings was so intense, that the distribution of every asset was disputed, including things as trivial as boxes of toothpicks. False appraisals and neglected houses suffering leaks and floods compounded the problem. To resolve the disputes, the properties were put up for sale. When the siblings noticed that the two half-ton concrete lions were gone from the front of the summer mansion, they accused each other of stealing them.

A woman with a dream of opening a second-hand clothing store filled a bedroom with close-outs, overstocks, garage- and estate-sale finds, and unclaimed clothes from dry cleaners. Then she filled a second bedroom, also leaving only narrow paths. Then a third. The living room and bathroom were next, followed by the 30-foot workshop in the back. The largest estate sale companies in the area declined, because they lacked the capacity to handle that many clothes and shoes.

A man spoiled his paramour with his inheritance – the house filled with lavish gifts, many of which were never even opened. But when the money ran out, a dispute arose, and he stabbed his lover. The now-jilted lover sued. The attorney needed DBD Estate Services to sell everything fast to pay for both the criminal and civil proceedings.

An 1880’s historic house had an active population of rats and mice. There was an infestation of cockroaches, and tenting-moths were eating holes in all the clothing and furniture. The floor had holes. The house itself canted to one side by several inches.
That was the condition found by the attorney assigned to this elderly resident’s guardianship.

A house that’s been flooded. A safe filled with money, guns, and gold that can’t be opened. Critical documents can’t be found. Listed assets are missing, and more keep disappearing. The disinherited daughter with a hoarding problem, who was excluded from the will, wants everything, and brings a friend who drew pentagrams around the property to put a hex on it.

A small cold-war era bungalow was the occupied by an estranged sibling. When this hoarder passed, the family found the house impassible, and the yard so overgrown and filled with debris that they could not see the back of the property. In the clearing process DBD Estate Services found a bomb shelter…

A man shot his lover, multiple time, pursuing her through the house. The family of the man wanted everything sold and the proceeds returned to the trust. The family of the victim wanted everything to remain so they could prove common-law partnership.