“My children can just decide among themselves how to divide up my property”
Even the most cooperative heirs can find themselves disagreeing on how to handle furniture, paintings, cars, family heirlooms and jewelry. Even the most mundane item can have sentimental value that far exceeds it’s actual worth. While the personal property that you have may not have a lot of worth, it is those items with sentimental value that cause the greatest rifts in siblings and family after the passing of a loved one.
Your Trustee or Executor will have final decision-making authority unless you specify who is going to receive what or a method in which the assets can be divided. When a family member is serving as Trustee or Executor, the other heirs may feel as though your Trustee/Executor is favoring themselves or another family member during this process. Specifying, at a minimum, a method that the family can follow to fairly divide up your personal property can save heartache and disagreements between heirs that could last for decades.
Options to fairly divide assets can take many different forms. For any items that you know that you want to go to a specific person with no arguments, those items should be listed specifically and allocated to the person that you want to have those items in your Trust or Last Will & Testament document. Many attorneys write in the option to leave a Memorandum or Note that describes certain items that you would like to go to certain heirs, but that is not legally binding, and the Trustee/Executor can disregard that Memorandum or Note. Children/heirs can be asked to describe any items that they would like to receive and either mark them or write those items into the Trust or Last Will & Testament. Some families opt for marking items on the back with labels or names of the family member they wish for those items to go to.
For families who have not decided how to deal with personal property, there are options like having each heir take a turn choosing an item of personal property that they wish to have. For items in which more than one heir is interested, it can be specified that names will be drawn out of a hat.
For more information or to schedule an appointment to discuss your situation and options, contact us.