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If you're distributing valuable property to loved ones, it's a good idea to consult with an estate-planning attorney before making your list. There may be tax advantages to transferring some kinds of property only after you're gone. If you wish to transfer property while you're still living, you might want to do so over the course of several years in order to avoid paying gift or transfer taxes. It may also be advantageous to separate your personal effects from your financial assets and more valuable property when making distributions. (Note that this may also be done by dividing the items on a list into lots, as shown in Step 9.) (Click here for an IRS discussion of gift and estate taxes in PDF format. Click here for tips on how to distribute a large estate.)
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If you wish to distribute property in different time periods (say, some this year, some next year, and some after you're gone), then it's best to conduct a separate auction for each time period, and include in your list only items that you wish to distribute now. This is because it's difficult for recipients to know how much to bid on items (e.g., stocks and real estate) they won't receive for several years. If you must auction items that won't be distributed immediately after the auction ends, specify on your list when these items will be released (e.g., "after I'm gone.")
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If you are a divorcing couple, this list should only include marital property that the court intends for you to split 50-50. Some states don't consider an equal division to be a fair division.
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Certain items may already have been promised to someone, taken, or received as gifts. If you want any of these items to count as part of the recipient's share of the property being distributed, include it in the list. In Step 7, we'll explain how to handle these items.
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Distributing cash along with personal effects can help poorer recipients bid more, since they won't need to dip as much into their own savings to compensate other recipients if they get more that their fair share of the property. In Step 8, we'll tell you how to generate cash by selling property that none of the recipients wants to keep.
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Combine sets, collections, or things that are used together and list them as a single item.
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Combine low value items--like decks of cards, paperback books, or used garments and list them as a single item. For example, one item might be "all of our paperback books."
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Be sufficiently specific in your descriptions so that there can be no misunderstandings.
Example: Here's the list of things that the Sniders wish to distribute to their children.
Step 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 · 11 · 12 · 13 · 14 · 15 · 16
Copyright © 2004 Lori Alden. All rights reserved.