Matt Paxton (left) with Legacy Navigator's co-founders, Pete Shrock and Craig Shealy (Photo by Ash Carr)
When Richmond native Matt Paxton’s father passed away in 2001, he had no idea what to do. Not only was he grieving a significant loss, he had a house to deal with and legal paperwork to file. He recently founded Legacy Navigator to help people in the same situation.
Paxton worked as a featured cleaner on A&E’s hit show “Hoarders” for 10 years. He described Legacy Navigator as a full-service concierge company that helps families manage entire estates, not just “stuff.” Its services include house and estate cleanout and settlement, finding bank accounts and important documents, storage and shipping services, and more.
“As the aging population in America gets larger, I realized I had more estates than hoards that needed cleaned up,” he says. “I want to help families in the way I wish I had been helped. We stay with them from start to finish, from dealing with mom’s Facebook page to actually selling the house.”
Customers can use as few or as many of the company’s services as they wish. Though most of Legacy’s business deals with deaths, it also offers help with moving elderly family members to assisted living, dealing with financial restructuring, and smoothing over divorce transitions.
“If there are stress and assets involved, that’s when we get called,” Paxton says, laughing..
The company is based in Richmond with locations in Washington, D.C., and Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina. It just opened up offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and there are plans to expand to 30 to 40 locations around the country.
“These families are so lost when they call us and they think the situation is never going to end, and then we take care of it in two weeks," Paxton says. "We get a check and hug with every job we do; we just love getting paid to help people.”
