I Have My Stuff, I Do Not Need Yours

It is another fallow period for celebrity estate planning news - the deaths of Jerry Lewis, Dick Gregory, and Ara Parseghian have yielded nothing newsworthy to date. Meanwhile, the NYT has an interesting piece on how children do not want their parents’ possessions when the parents downsize or move into a retirement home (or die). I see this with many of my clients and their children.

A few brief points:

1. In the age of furniture and decorations from Ikea and Wayfair, people do not want to decorate their homes with their parents’ 50 year old household items.

2. Unless an item is incredibly unique (i.e. Tiffany lamp, Baccarat crystal), it likely has little monetary value.

3. Personally, when my grandmother moved into a nursing home 20 years ago, all I wanted was her vintage lava lamp but I was also given (i.e. asked to remove) the bedroom set which I quickly disposed of.

4. If you have something you do not use or like, throw it away so your children do not have to throw it away after you die.

Photo Credit:  T.J. Kirkpatrick for New York Times (pic is from linked article)

License:  Fair Use/Education

War and Peace

Audrey Hepburn died in 1993.  She left her personal belongings, including costumes, scarves, hats, scripts, awards, and other memorabilia, equally to her two sons.  They in turn loaned the memorabilia to a charity to display.  After one of the sons ran into financial difficulties, he asked for the return of the property.  He and his brother were unable to agree on how to divide the property so they went to court.  They just settled their dispute last week.

Several brief points:

1.  Most disputes about estate administration that I see are about the personal belongings and not the money.  Oddly.  And sadly.

2.  In Ohio, people can easily specify which child or beneficiary is to receive a particular item by leaving a written document as a will companion so stating.

3.  In Hepburn's case, I feel sorry for anyone fighting over 25+ year old scarves and hats even if they once belonged to a famous person.

                                    Photo Copyright:  Paramount/REX/Shutterstock
                                                License:  Fair Use/Education

Treasure Hunt

The State of Ohio is holding an auction this Friday and Saturday to sell the contents of abandoned safe deposit boxes to make room for additional items in the Unclaimed Funds department.  The items include Kruggerands, silver bars, coins, and currency. This is the first auction of this type since 1998.  The state has had some of the items in its possession since 1968.

A few brief points:

1.  Some of the abandoned boxes belonged to decedents.  I always advise my clients to notify their executors of the location of any safe deposit boxes to prevent them being lost.

2.  The State of Ohio currently has $2.3 billion in unclaimed funds it is holding for their rightful owners.  Those funds can be claimed by completing a form on the Ohio Department of Commerce website.

3.  Almost 50 years since the state found some of these items?  The wheels of bureaucracy grind slowly.

                                          Photo Credit:  Joshua A. Bickel/Columbus Dispatch
                                          License:  Fair Use/Education

The Final Cut (Robin Williams Pt. 3)

The widow of Robin Williams and his children from his prior marriages settled their dispute over his estate this week.  His third wife was seeking some of his personal belongings, which he left to his children in his will, and funds to continue to reside in their home for the rest of her life.  Williams had left her the home in trust, but apparently did not set aside a specific sum to provide for the upkeep of the house for her lifetime.  The undisclosed settlement provides that she will have sufficient funds to live in the house the rest of her life, plus she will be able to keep their wedding gifts, a bike they purchased on their honeymoon, a watch, and the tuxedo he wore to their wedding.  They also disputed the ownership of various photographs.

Three brief points:

1.  This dispute was really about the funds to keep her in their Tiburon house.  The rest of the items are inconsequential.

2.  I am glad his children were able to allow his widow to have one watch and one bike from his watch and 50 bike collection.

3.  In the era of digital photography, does anyone really fight over the ownership of pictures when they are readily reproduced?

The Very Rare Estate

I am back after a few weeks of slow estate planning news and 14+ days in Europe.

The story about the family who found a collection of pristine, old baseball cards valued at $3 million in their aunt's attic is interesting for reasons other than the discovery of unknown  valuable assets.  First, it is very rare that an individual's personal items are worth more than a few cents on the dollar.  Even more rare is the family that is drawn closer together when dividing personal items.

My experience is that distributing personal property, no matter how small the value, can lead to acrimony and hostile feelings between heirs.  To prevent acrimony, individuals should specify which heir is to receive specific items in a memorandum.  Any hostile feelings can then be directed to the deceased and relations among siblings can be preserved. Hopefully.