“It’s not just packing and unpacking,” Ms. Buysse said. “It’s working with the clients and the family for weeks or months, going through a lifetime of possessions. You need to be a good listener.”

…

My sister and I hired a senior move manager for our father, who was moving into an independent living apartment, when it became clear that discussing matters like precisely how many identical plastic flashlights he needed could consume months. We deferred to a third party.

Still, in the end, the client decides. One woman who hadn’t cooked for 20 years insisted that she needed to hold on to a particular roasting pan, Ms. Bjorkman recalled. The woman also argued that, as someone who remembered the Depression, a free-standing freezer was a crucial source of comfort — even if it was full of expired food.

Read more in the New York Times.