Hi! I'm Maria - a teacher, real estate agent, and mom in beautiful Littleton, Colorado.
In 2021, my dad passed away and my brothers and I headed to his home in upstate NY. We not only had to notify his loved ones, plan a funeral, and write an obituary; we had to figure out what to do with all of his possessions and open up his estate with the local probate court. We had no idea how to do any of this!
Our Story
Luckily, we found that he had a will, that helped us a little. So did clerk Sally at the county probate court - we made friends with her fast. But then we learned that a will is just one small component of an estate.
In order to manage and close bank accounts and investments, we had to find them all, leaving us digging through his phone, his laptop, cardboard boxes, file cabinets, drawers, and closets of his home to find statements and bank/credit cards.
We spent hours at my brother's kitchen table guessing passwords. Then we had to find the physical stuff. We hunted for a camper in Florida (his friend said "just find Susie at the campground, she knows where it is!"). We looked for the boat in New Jersey ("ask Bob, we think he owns half!"). We found a golf cart and a snowmobile trailer too, but no keys for either!
After realizing the mound on the table was only growing by the day, we headed to the local office store to set up a box for all of the keys, paperwork, important documents, and cards that we kept finding.
We created a system for what we collected (checklists for what we'd find, then checklists for what we had to do with it) and this helped us work our way through probate.
That was how the first ever Nokbox was born! And it was too good not to share with the rest of the world. We hope it helps make this process easier for other families. It's hard enough to lose a loved one - no one should have to worry about the scavenger hunt. We've done all of the work for you - you just fill up the box.
We're so glad you found us, and hope you love your Nokbox!
