I bought a used boat. Estate sale. Looked easy. But I hired out to
handle the paperwork.

There were three executors to the estate, in different states, one of
whom regularly was in Europe. Getting a proper bill of sale and all the
forms signed by everyone took months. But that was only half the story.
Turned out the deceased had bought the boat from factory with a
mortgage, that was paid off over a decade ago. But the release from lien
form was never filed with the documentation center. And turns out that
bank merged with another bank which was bought by another bank which
danced on a tabletop with yet another financial conglomerate... Finding
out just how and from whom to get a piece of payer the doc center would
accept took F-o-r-e-v-e-r!

the fee I had paid the company was one of the best bargains I ever got
in boating.