My daughter's friends are good kids. Yes, they are 23 and 21 years old. They lived with their single parent father and his brother since the oldest was 8 years old. We've known them since 2000 when our children went to the same Summer Camp. Their mother hops in and out (mostly out) of their lives. She's not a resource for them. Their lives were happy. Like any family, they had problems, like poverty and a father who was always paid under the table. They had an uncle who drank too much but kept a job up until 2011 when he retired and went on Social Security. Despite the problems, they were a functional family. Not an ideal family, but they did well with what they had. They loved each other.
Their dad was autocratic. He had firm ideas about the role of children and he believed things like property taxes and insurance aren't for children, even adult children. Their father died November 2012. Their uncle decided he should step up and take care of things. He failed and died 8 months later. He didn't keep his word - he took care of nothing more than his beer habit. Neither had wills. The house is not in dispute. Once the title clears, the children will own the house.
Since their uncle's death these young adults have spent hours fixing up the house. The cleaned up the yard. Fixed the fence. They fixed the bathrooms, the kitchen. They've painted, fixed the wood. Treated for termites. The roof is sound, but it's going to need replacing soon. They thought all was well, all things considered. They thought their uncle took care of the taxes and insurance prior to his death in 2013. Since their Dad's and Uncle's deaths I have attempted to discreetly find out if they need assistance in handling their personal business. I have been continually assured they had everything under control. They didn't. Last Saturday, they got a notice stating they had to pay the Miami-Dade County $7,700 or lose the house. They have until May 30th to get $7,700 to Miami-Dade County. There's no exemption, delay or mitigation. This is a hard deadline.
They have pawned, scraped and begged their remaining family for what they can get. They have $4,000. The rest is going to have to come from somewhere else. Here's a link to their crowd source site. Their friends have kicked in about $1,400 so far. Mr. Wolverton and I will be kicking in a few hundred in cash, so they won't lose the PayPal fees. They are asking for $7,700 and they are almost there, but really to get the house free of probate and to get an property insurance policy, they need about $12,000. Yes, they are in a hurricane zone between I-95 and just West of U.S. 1 in North Miami. Any left overs will go toward 2014 taxes and getting the title through probate and insurance. I will be working with them to get their taxes and insurance on a monthly payment system for 2015.
The oldest works full time for pathetic wages. Her job doesn't give her health insurance and she didn't qualify for the ACA marketplace plans and Florida has not expanded Medicaid. Her younger brother is currently going to the Miami-Dade fire academy and won't be out for several months (we're praying he gets through uninjured). He is trying to pick up a week end job, but that's not working out. This is our economic reality.
If you have something to spare, please help these young adults. I really can vouch for them. Here's links to their face book pages. Any help you can give them is appreciated.