High-value assets often dominate the estate planning process. Testators drafting wills or funding trusts think about their financial accounts and real property. Their personal property may not receive the same care and attention, despite likely being worth a significant amount.
Personal property ranges from household furnishings to clothing. Some personal property can be relatively valuable. People may have acquired collectibles that are rare. They may also have antiques that furnish their homes.
Collectibles and antiques could be worth a significant amount of money. They could represent substantial emotional value for the beneficiaries of an estate. They could also trigger conflicts if left unaddressed in a will or other estate planning documents. How should people appropriately address their collectibles and antiques in an estate plan?
Consider beneficiary preferences
The preferences of beneficiaries are among the top considerations that should guide estate planning efforts. While the testator may feel a sense of connection to their antiques or collectibles, their beneficiaries may not have the same perspective.
Testators may need to consider whether their beneficiaries are likely to retain, throw away or resell inherited antiques and collectibles when deciding how to allocate them.
Consider their fair market value
Sometimes, people who have sizable collections or a household full of antiques decide to earmark one or two items from their holdings for each of their beneficiaries. Someone with a large collection of vintage teacups, for example, might designate one cup for each of their grandchildren.
While that process can be enjoyable and can leave people with keepsakes that have emotional value, the allocation of antiques and collectibles could also trigger conflict among beneficiaries or feelings of rejection in some cases.
Ensuring that the items granted to beneficiaries are roughly the same value or that other bequests take the value of those antiques and collectibles into consideration is important for the prevention of conflict and resentment during estate administration.
Consider planning for the sale of assets
When a testator recognizes that their beneficiaries are unlikely to actually retain their collectibles, heirlooms or antiques, planning in advance for the sale of those assets might be the best option. They can choose a professional or business with the ability to seek a fair value for them on the open market.
Instead of holding a generalized estate sale, for example, they may want to arrange to have a specialist sell their vintage baseball cards piecemeal to other collectors. That way, they can potentially optimize the return on that prior investment and therefore what their beneficiaries inherit.
In some cases, antiques might have cultural value, warranting their donation to a local historical society or museum. The same can be true of rare and unusual collectibles as well. The contents of the estate dictate what arrangements are most reasonable. Integrating assets with emotional and financial value into an estate plan is important for the lasting legacy of the testator.