Whats the proper thing to do?
 

We have a client who passed away.
His brother wants to close the account, but the sites have members etc. He doesnt want to piss anyone off but he doesnt want to keep the sites either & he doesnt want to keep the account open.
Does he close the server & then just have the sites listed as "closed"? Does he put a page saying "we are closing next week"

whats the proper way to proceed? :Oh crap

Two ideas..

1. Refund last 30 days memberships for the members, then cancel, and close.
(this includes e-mailing them, w/ a hyperlink of access in, or on join, 'this site is no longer accepting members).

2. Close down, cancel. No refund. Nothing but e-mail to members saying, 'we are closing end of month (insert date). Tank ye'.

Have him sell.

This guy wouldnt have the first clue on how to proceed on selling the sites etc.
Besides is that 'kosher' I mean his brother passed away & hes going to sell the sites & profit from it? Seems a tad harsh non?

I, too, would favor selling the site to someone who will continue running it as is. If you sell, you will make money from it. If you close it, you will not make anything, and lose the last months membership fee from all the members.

Why would you not sell?

http://www.gfy.com/register.php
Its not profiteering. If that was a durable asset of his brothers' someone would inherit it.

Unfortunately for the survivor, a site is not a durable asset that is easy to transfer and own. Running a site requires effort, time, and expertise, and its just not something that an outsider can inherit.

With that said, wouldn't it be better that his family benefits from this in some way, rather than just pissing away money? If the survivor can't bring himself to the thought of making money off this, at least sell the site anyway and give the money to a charity. I'm sure there are a lot of people who need the money that a successful paysite can fetch.

Its not my site(s) to seel, his brother was just a client of ours that passed away. Now from a legal stand point, if sold would it not have to go into 'the pot' to be split up by anyone left in the will (if there even was one) ?

Pass the profit on to his favourite charity...

Selling the site(s) & keeping them alive looks like the best solution.

Does the guy have a last will / testament?

Someone could sell it for him, like say you.

Yes it is "kosher". People often liquidate items left when somebody passes away. Does not mean he has to profit from them, that is really up to him. He could give the money to charity if he wanted to. Then again this is ussually left to the whole inheritance issue and how it is resolved.

There's absolutely nothing unethical about you suggesting he sell the site and even offering to broker the sale for a percentage.

He's getting something for nothing and it's gonna take up some of your time, so you should also get something out of it.

:2 cents:

Legal standpoint since you brought it up. Technically it would need to go into that "pot" and not just be shut down by the brother if he is not the sole survivor and there is no will that says otherwise.
It is an asset and all assests need to be divided up just like cash and other stuff.

How would he or I or whoever even determine how much his sites are worth?
We only dealt with the hosting side so I know what kind of server he had & could verify the traffic etc.

Get quotes from people. I am sure that due to the surrounding issues of this more than a few people would give you honest opinions. I.E. basicly an appraisal.

Then again it is worth what someone is willing to pay.

Theres a few domains that look like just 'family' domains purchased for family memebers etc.
Theres 2 or 3 I think could be pretty decent etc. 2 for celeb sites probably be pretty good.
I feel kinda sleazy trying to sell them though, lol.

Im generally for making $ but seems harsh hehe.
First time in about 10 or so years working on the net Ive had to deal with anything like this.

I relay this on to the brother & see what he wants to do.
We arent charging him, I just hope the larger sites dont pull in too too much traffic or I'll get kicked in the teeth for this one lol

thanks tho guys! :thumbsup