Petr's story: he inherited his parents' apartment in Slovenia

This is a composite story, based on the typical situations we encounter. The name and details are fictional. This is the most delicate of our stories — it is about an inheritance, which means it is about loss. We tell it carefully, and because many people walk this path alone, not knowing where to start.

The situation

Petr inherited his parents’ apartment in Slovenia. He himself has long lived and worked in another country. The apartment is the family one, with all of his parents’ things, furniture, photographs — with a whole life’s way of being inside it.

To the practical task — what to do with the property — was added what made it especially heavy: this was not a “decision about an asset”, but the need to sort through the home of people close to him. And all of it at a distance, between his own work and his own life in another country.

The chaos of the first weeks

At first Petr simply did not know where to start. The questions all piled up at once: what about the legal side of the inheritance, are the utility bills still running, what condition is the apartment in, what to do with the things, sell the property or keep it. Each question led to another.

Emotionally it was even harder. Petr was not ready to think about “sorting through” his parents’ apartment — and he kept putting it off. Meanwhile the apartment just stood there: the bills kept running, and the unusually empty property slowly accumulated everyday problems.

The main mistake of that period was an understandable, human one: Petr tried either to solve everything at once, or to solve nothing. Neither worked.

How it was broken into steps

The shift happened when the task stopped being seen as one enormous one and was broken into a sequence of steps — calm, and not tied to a hard deadline. Roughly the way it is described in the article about the first 30 days with an inherited apartment.

First — understand the condition. We carried out an inspection of the apartment with a photo report: Petr got, for the first time, a clear picture of the property without coming over.

In parallel — the legal side. Petr found a notary and did not try to handle the inheritance formalities himself.

We stopped the “leaks”. The apartment was put under basic property care, so it would not accumulate problems while Petr made his decisions. This took away the background anxiety of “something is happening there without me”.

The very act of breaking it into steps changed the feeling: instead of an unbearable mountain, there was now a clear list he could move along at his own pace.

Clearing — the hardest part

The hardest stage was the clearing — sorting through his parents’ things. Here, what mattered most was not the pace, but the care.

The process was run step by step, with photo documentation, so that Petr could take part in the decisions remotely. The main principle: personal items separate. Photographs, documents, letters, things that were clearly keepsakes and valuables were set aside and handed to Petr — only he decided what happened to them, and only when he was ready. Everything else was sorted by agreement: what to give away, what to remove, what to donate to charity. Large furniture was moved and carried out carefully.

Petr later said that what helped him most was precisely that he was not rushed. The clearing was not done “in one day, to close the matter”. He was given the chance to go through it at his own pace — while the heavy physical and organisational part was taken off his hands.

After the clearing, the apartment was put in order with a deep cleaning.

The decision about the property’s future

Once the apartment was cleared and cleaned, Petr could finally think calmly about its future — now without the pressure of chaos and without the weight of unsorted things.

He did not rush this decision, and that was right. For a while the apartment stayed under property care while Petr weighed the options — sell, rent out, or keep. What mattered was that this decision was now being made with a clear head, not in an attempt to “close a hard subject as fast as possible”.

What in this story is universal

Don’t try to solve everything at once — and don’t put everything off. Inherited property feels unbearable as long as it is “one big task”. Broken into steps, it becomes manageable.

Give yourself time, especially for the personal side. Clearing a parent’s home is not a “speed” logistics operation. You set the pace. A good process respects that.

Personal items and documents — always separate. Keepsakes must not end up being removed. Only the heir decides what happens to them.

Put the property under care while you think. This takes away the background anxiety and stops the empty apartment from accumulating problems while you make decisions.

Leave the legal side to professionals. Inheritance formalities are for a notary and a lawyer, not territory for handling on your own.

How DomCare helps

In Petr’s story, DomCare covered the practical side: a visit and an assessment, basic property care while the fate of the property was being decided, a careful clearing that preserved the personal items, moving the furniture and the final cleaning. We do not handle the legal side of an inheritance — that is for a notary and a lawyer — but we take on everything physical and organisational, at the heir’s pace. We work in Ljubljana, on the coast, in the Bled and Bohinj region, and in the Kranj region.

The easiest way to talk it through: write to us via the form or on WhatsApp.

Frequently asked questions

Is this a real story about a specific person? This is a composite story, based on typical situations. The name and details are fictional. We tell it carefully, because many people walk this path alone.

Where do you start if you’ve inherited your parents’ apartment abroad? Don’t try to solve everything at once. Break it into steps: understand the condition of the property (an inspection), start the legal side with a notary, and put the apartment under basic property care so it does not accumulate problems.

Do you have to clear an inherited apartment quickly? No. Clearing a parent’s home is a sensitive process, and you set the pace. A good process moves step by step and does not rush the heir.

What happens to personal belongings during clearing? Personal items — photographs, documents, keepsakes and valuables — are always set aside separately and handed to the heir. Only they decide what happens to them.

Do you have to decide right away whether to sell an inherited apartment? No. That decision is better made with a clear head, without pressure. While you think, it makes sense to keep the property under care.

Petr’s story is about how inherited property in a foreign country stops being unbearable once it is broken into calm steps, and once the heavy part is taken on by someone else. What matters in it is not speed, but care, and the heir’s right to move at their own pace. The practical side, meanwhile, can be fully entrusted, leaving you with only the decisions.

If you are going through this — write to us, and we will help, calmly and step by step.

Sources and further reading

• Inherited an apartment in Slovenia: the first 30 days
• Clearing an apartment and basement in Slovenia
• Checklist: the initial inspection of an inherited apartment
• DomCare — Property Clearing — what the service includes
• DomCare — About us — our experience handling inherited property