Estate and Property Death Cleanup

Your role as executor or heir

When someone dies, their property is generally handled through their estate. Whoever has authority over the estate, often a named executor or a court-appointed administrator, is usually the person who can approve work on the home. Before letters of authority are issued, family members sometimes need to act quickly to protect the property, and that can be a gray area.

We do not give legal advice. What we can do is explain the cleanup, provide a written scope for whoever needs to approve it, and keep records that will make sense to the estate's attorney, the court or other heirs later. If you are not sure whether you have authority to approve work, ask the estate's attorney.

Arranging cleanup from out of town

Many of the people we help live in another city or state. Remote coordination usually works like this:

1. Call and describe the situation

   Tell us what you know: where the property is, what police or the medical examiner told you, and who has keys.

2. Arrange access

   A lockbox, a key left with a neighbor or relative, or a realtor or property manager meeting us are all common. We confirm the arrangement before we travel.

3. Receive the assessment by email

   After inspecting the property, we send photos and a written scope you can review, share with other heirs and approve.

4. Get updates during the work

   We send progress photos and call if anything changes.

5. Close out

   When work is done, you receive final photos and an itemized invoice, and keys are returned however you prefer.

Our guide on communicating with a cleanup company during a difficult event has more on what to ask and what to expect.

Belongings, valuables and the inventory question

Estate property often includes items that matter for legal or family reasons: wills, financial papers, jewelry, firearms, collections, photographs. Our work is limited to the area affected by the death, and we are careful about what we touch.

• Before starting, tell us about anything you want found or left untouched.
• We photograph the affected room before removal, so there is a record of what was there.
• Items in the affected area that can be cleaned are cleaned and set aside. Items that absorbed biological material are listed and disposed of.
• Unaffected rooms are left as they are for the estate to deal with.

We do not conduct full estate inventories or estate sales. Those are separate services. If heirs disagree about belongings, it may be worth having a family member or the attorney's representative present on the day.

Records for the estate and insurer

Estates often need to account for expenses. We provide a written scope, before-and-after photos and an itemized invoice. These can be shared with the estate's attorney, other heirs and, if relevant, the homeowner's insurer. Some property insurance policies may cover some of this work; that depends on the policy, and the insurer should be told about the loss early. See Understanding Documentation in Biohazard Remediation and Insurance Questions to Ask After a Biohazard Incident.

Preparing the property to sell

Many estate homes are eventually sold. Cleanup is usually the first step in that process, followed by any repairs, then clearing contents, then listing. A few things are worth knowing:

• We tell you during the assessment if the home will need a contractor for flooring, drywall or paint after our work.
• Photos and the final scope can be useful to your real estate agent and any buyer's inspector.
• Tennessee law, T.C.A. § 66-5-207, says no cause of action arises against an owner or real estate licensee for failing to disclose that a property was the site of a homicide, felony or suicide. This is general information. Ask a Tennessee attorney or your agent how it applies to your sale.

For more on property responsibilities after an incident, see What Property Owners Should Know After a Crime Scene.

Working with realtors, attorneys and other heirs

Estate cleanup often involves several people who are not in the same place. A sibling may hold the keys, an attorney may need copies of every invoice, and a realtor may be waiting to list the house. We are glad to keep more than one person informed, as long as the person with authority tells us who should receive what. Some estates prefer a single point of contact so decisions are not made twice. Others ask us to copy the attorney on the scope and the final invoice. Either works. What helps most is deciding early who approves changes, so work does not stall while people check with each other.

What to do before we arrive

If someone local can check the property, ask them to make sure doors and windows are secure, the door to the affected room is closed, and pets have been removed. Mail and packages can be collected. Please ask them not to enter the affected room, remove furniture or start clearing the house. If utilities are scheduled to be shut off, let us know, since we need power and water to work; our page on deaths discovered after an extended period covers properties where services have already been stopped.

What shapes the scope, and where we go

Cost depends on the length of time before discovery, the rooms and materials affected, access arrangements and disposal volume. We do not publish prices; the written scope sets them, and you can review it before approving. See how pricing works. For the cleanup itself, see death scene cleanup in houses or the main unattended death cleanup page. We travel from Nashville throughout Middle Tennessee, including Williamson County, Sumner County and Macon County.

Questions people ask