We help people
handle their personal property
in times of loss or change.
Estate Organizers specialize in handling personal, tangible property during the process of settling an estate. We support the professionals, individuals, and families involved, to ensure things go as smoothly as possible.
When a new client contacts us, they have typically just suffered a loss.
Not only are they handling new and unexpected issues at hand, but they are doing so while grieving. It’s common to feel overwhelmed in these circumstances.
An Estate Organizer is the perfect ally; a compassionate and experienced professional who can guide you through a complex and emotional process.
We handle the contents of your estate in the most efficient, environmentally-friendly way possible, while following the directions set forth in the trust or will and consulting with trustees, executors, family, or legal counsel.
We are well-versed in the many ways to liquidate estates and can help you choose how to move forward in the most advantageous way, using our close relationships with companies who “buy out” estates, estate sale vendors, and local auction houses, as well as numerous resources for donations and hauling of property that can’t be sold or donated.
Starting with an intake phone call, we assess your situation and either give you suggestions on how to proceed on your own or advise you of our services, as well as what other vendors can offer. If we agree we are a good fit, a signed contract and retainer are required to begin work.
During the process, we search through the entire residence for specified items for distribution- sometimes finding (lost) safe deposit box keys, stock certificates, hidden cash, savings bonds, gold coins, and more. Next, we assess the condition of the remaining items and suggest the best way to handle them, including resale, donation, or recycling. Our goal is to get you the most value for the contents of the estate, while keeping as much of the remainder as possible out of landfill.
We look forward to discussing your estate needs with you. Call us for a preliminary consultation.
Listen to Meg’s podcast on “how we work”
Our Services
Paperwork Management
- Opening, sorting, and managing decedent’s mail
- Locating existing or creating new filing systems
- Examination of decedent’s paperwork for identification of bank accounts, securities, stock holdings, real estate, safe deposit boxes, Last Will and Testament or trust documents, or other relevant paperwork
- Assistance to legal council in preparing paperwork for 706 Forms
Inventory and Distribution of Personal Assets
- Locating specified items for distribution according to the decedent’s wishes
- Inventory of personal tangible property items
- Inventory of donated items
- Coordination with appraisers, liquidators, charities, and consignment shops for clearing property
- Placement of orphaned pets
- Personal assistance and guidance to heirs on what to keep, donate, or give away
Home and Property Management
- Physical examination of real estate and identification of items needing immediate attention
- Ongoing property management
- Mail management
- Coordination with repair service providers
- Communication with city services while property is still in estate
- Suggestions for improving or staging property in preparation for sale
Issues at Time of Loss
- Communications with heirs
- Accompaniment to coroner’s office, funeral homes, legal counsel, or animal shelters
- Assistance in dividing up and distributing specified and unspecified tangible property items to multiple heirs
- Personal attention to grieving heirs
Residential/Downsizing Organizing Services for Seniors
- Overall assessment of lifestyle needs
- Design ideas and hands-on organizing
- Overhaul of existing systems
- Clean outs and reorganizations
- Storage system design
- Maximizing usage of current space
- Assistance with sorting and storage of clothing, accessories, luggage, tools, collectibles, et al.
- Support and guidance on what to keep, what to give away and what to sell
- Suggestions for where to donate, sell, or consign items
- Sorting, packing, or repacking of memorabilia
- Scheduled periodic “tune ups”
- Assistance with downsizing: move management, house clearing, floor plans for new space, guidance on what to take with you and what to leave, etc.
Relocations, Move-ins, and Home Sales
- Space Planning and floor plans for the new residence
- Complete unpacking services
- Management of packing and moving service people
- Coordination with realtors and repair people to prepare house for sale
- Property management
- Support and guidance on what to keep, what to give away, and what to sell
- Suggestions for donations, sales, or consignments
Each property and family structure are unique and the scope of our work usually changes as the project continues. Because of this, we do not offer estimates on how long it takes to complete a project. We work on an hourly basis with a project manager and assistants.
You are welcome to call us for a preliminary estimate, based on the size of the estate, general condition of the contents, number of heirs and known legal issues. Please note that estimates are not guaranteed.
We have handled everything from storage units to homes as large as 9000 sq. ft.
Bonded and Insured
Reimarc Banzuela Associate Organizer
Reimarc has 14 years of customer service experience in the past with various big name companies. He believes being organized is an important aspect in everybody’s lives because it prepares us to be on top of our game not only in our career but also the important things in life. He enjoys running long distance and hanging out with his son. He’s been running long distance almost his whole life and hoping someday he might finish his first ever marathon.
Angela Jolly Estate Organizer
Angela Jolly’s been in the antique business for over 25 years. She specializes in the 1950s and bakelite. She is also a big collector. Her home is filled with antique magic posters, hobo art, and antique toys, so, she has a wide range of knowledge. It’s useful for organizing an estate. When not on the job, she is searching for bakelite or making something. Angela also loves to spend time with her wonderful family, dog and chickens
Melissa G Residential Organizer
Melissa started organizing her Barbie clothes to unwind after a hard day of fourth grade, and she hasn’t really stopped since. A native Midwesterner, she’s called San Francisco her home since 2002. Her hobbies include spending time with her husband and 8 year old, cooking, going for city walks and caring for her many house plants. She has lived in New Zealand, Australia, Hawaii, Canada and Belgium but her favorite place is the Bay Area.
Jasmyn DesBiens Social Media Maven
Human, Female, Animal & Nature Lover, Self-proclaimed Inspiress, Certified Transformative Coach, Three principles practitioner, Co-Author of the bestselling book “The Midas Touch”, Expert Facilitator in Business Systems and host of the podcast “Dream it! Dare it! Do it! Live the life you want!”
Sarah Wright Bean Pusher
Sarah is a numbers enthusiast, avid socializer, and fickle crafter – loving all art forms and committing to none. These days when she’s not plugging away at the computer, she’s busy raising her daughter (born Nov 2021), cuddling her pitbulls, and trying to find the best local coffees and beers.
Interested in joining our Organizing Team? If you are caring, reliable, professional and organized, we may have the perfect part-time/full-time position for you. Are you flexible with your time and always thinking ‘what’s next’? Are you a fast learner with a quick mind and are willing to work hard and smart? Would you describe yourself as a team player that’s able to both lead and follow?
If so, head over to our careers page to see current opportunities.
Meg Connell established TheOrganizedOne in 1997, providing residential and estate organizing services to clients in the Bay Area, which quickly led to a specialization in estate organizing, and an expanded client base nationwide. Over the years, she has developed relationships with bank trust departments and estate-planning attorneys, estate liquidators, professional fiduciaries, and other key colleagues.
Before launching her business as a professional organizer, Meg honed her organizing techniques in “corporate America,” working for a Fortune 500 consulting firm for several years. She also has a degree in Interior Design and Architecture, which reflects her love of design, art, and heirlooms, as well as her ability to create order. Meg’s unique combination of skills has enabled her to provide estate and residential organizing services to a wide range of clients.
Meg lives in Oakland, California with her young son.
Meg is a member of:
- National Association of Professional Organizers
- Estate Planning Councils of the East Bay and Diablo Valley
- The Professional Fiduciary Association of California
Previous Board Positions:
- President and Education Director of the Estate Planning Council of Southern Alameda County
- President of the East Bay Women’s Network
- Treasurer of the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the National Association of Professional Organizers
- Board Member of the East Bay Estate Planning Council
Meg has presented to:
- East Bay Trust and Estate Lawyers
- Professional Fiduciary Association of California
- Northern California’s Planned Giving Council
- East Bay Women’s Network
- Peninsula Partnership Training Institute
- National Association of Professional Organizers
- Support Center for Nonprofit Management
- Federal Women’s Program
- The Federal Employee’s Annual Training Conference
- The Marin Community Foundation
- The East Bay Women’s Forum
Topics have included:
- Time Management
- Paper Flow Management
- Handling of Estate Assets (Personal, Tangible, Property Items) at the Time of Loss
In the summer of 2004, Meg filmed a British comedy television show,“The C.H.A.O.S. Clinic” a wacky, wily, comedy for people who “Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome,” (a very highly disorganized state of living!)
The show was a tongue-in-cheek reality-ish depiction of a self–help clinic that happens to be the last hope for people afflicted with hoarding, lack of time management, and chronic disorganization – all symptoms of C.H.A.O.S.
Using an irony-laced and alternative approach to helping the clinic’s members (offered via a series of group meetings and home interventions), Meg leads the group through a six–step recovery program to achieving streamlined success.
Dream sequences, psychedelic lights, adventurous spelunking amidst clutter with hard-hats and headlamps, and tongue-in-cheek support-group farces pushes this eight-episode series out beyond the average to the wildest possible edge, and highlighting the lighter side of getting organized.
To watch all eight episodes, visit our YouTube channel.
Meg Connell, TheOrganizedOne
Meg Connell established TheOrganizedOne in 1997, providing residential and estate organizing services to clients in the Bay Area, which quickly led to a specialization in estate organizing, and an expanded client base nationwide. Over the years, she has developed relationships with bank trust departments and estate-planning attorneys, estate liquidators, professional fiduciaries, and other key colleagues.
Before launching her business as a professional organizer, Meg honed her organizing techniques in “corporate America,” working for a Fortune 500 consulting firm for several years. She also has a degree in Interior Design and Architecture, which reflects her love of design, art, and heirlooms, as well as her ability to create order. Meg’s unique combination of skills has enabled her to provide estate and residential organizing services to a wide range of clients.
Meg lives in Oakland, California with her young son.
TheOrganizedOne Team
Estate Organizing is not a one-person job, that is why here at TheOrganizedOne we have compassionate and efficient team members. Working together enables us to process an estate’s contents in a careful, caring, and timely manner.
Estate Organizing is not a one-person job, that is why here at TheOrganizedOne we have compassionate and efficient team members. Working together enables us to process an estate’s contents in a careful, caring, and timely manner.
Mary McClung, Project Manager
Mary McClung is a Certified Professional Organizer who loves working on teams. She began her organizing business in 1999 in San Francisco and she is now based in Southwest Harbor, Maine. Her special area of focus has been financial organizing, working with seniors, the chronically disorganized and people with ADD and their families. In her spare time, she enjoys gardening, working out, and reading. Mary has an affinity for animals that rivals Dr. Dolittle, and can often be found walking her dog or bird watching from her canoe.
Reimarc Banzuela Associate Organizer
Reimarc has 14 years of customer service experience in the past with various big name companies. He believes being organized is an important aspect in everybody’s lives because it prepares us to be on top of our game not only in our career but also the important things in life. He enjoys running long distance and hanging out with his son. He’s been running long distance almost his whole life and hoping someday he might finish his first ever marathon.
Tracy Titus Estate Organizer
Tracy Loves vintage. Finding it, selling it, giving it away, repurposing it and wearing it. When she isn’t keeping things out of landfill she is spending time with her 2 rescue dogs Baxter and Titus.
Shannon Tithof Estate Organizer
Shannon grew up outside of Chicago “picking” with her parents on weekends at flea markets and garage sales. However, it wasn’t until college years in Michigan that I fell in love with Herman Miller, Knoll and the MCM design movement. She lives in Fairfax with her family and you can find her treasures at Antique Legacy in San Anselmo.
Angela Jolly Estate Organizer
Angela Jolly’s been in the antique business for over 25 years. She specializes in the 1950s and bakelite. She is also a big collector. Her home is filled with antique magic posters, hobo art, and antique toys, so, she has a wide range of knowledge. It’s useful for organizing an estate. When not on the job, she is searching for bakelite or making something. Angela also loves to spend time with her wonderful family, dog and chickens
Melissa G Residential Organizer
Melissa started organizing her Barbie clothes to unwind after a hard day of fourth grade, and she hasn’t really stopped since. A native Midwesterner, she’s called San Francisco her home since 2002. Her hobbies include spending time with her husband and 8 year old, cooking, going for city walks and caring for her many house plants. She has lived in New Zealand, Australia, Hawaii, Canada and Belgium but her favorite place is the Bay Area.
Jasmyn DesBiens Social Media Maven
Human, Female, Animal & Nature Lover, Self-proclaimed Inspiress, Certified Transformative Coach, Three principles practitioner, Co-Author of the bestselling book “The Midas Touch”, Expert Facilitator in Business Systems and host of the podcast “Dream it! Dare it! Do it! Live the life you want!”
Sarah Wright Bean Pusher
Sarah is a numbers enthusiast, avid socializer, and fickle crafter – loving all art forms and committing to none. These days when she’s not plugging away at the computer, she’s busy raising her daughter (born Nov 2021), cuddling her pitbulls, and trying to find the best local coffees and beers.
Join The Team
Interested in joining our Organizing Team? If you are caring, reliable, professional and organized, we may have the perfect part-time/full-time position for you. Are you flexible with your time and always thinking ‘what’s next’? Are you a fast learner with a quick mind and are willing to work hard and smart? Would you describe yourself as a team player that’s able to both lead and follow?
If so, head over to our careers page to see current opportunities.
“Meg is worth her weight in gold!”
Bernadette S.
Research Lawyer