Proper estate planning in California helps ensure someone can distribute wealth to their loved ones for generations. Splitting up the value of accounts can be simple enough. However, you’ll quickly find that some assets aren’t possible to split evenly. Fortunately, there are a few ways to fairly distribute valuable family heirlooms.
Designate someone to make decisions
Estate planning sometimes involves making decisions that you’re not comfortable with. Deciding who gets what from your estate can also be time-consuming. One way to solve these problems is to nominate someone to help you. This person can divide your heirlooms, assist with beneficiary-related disputes and help with similar matters.
Offer rotating selections
Sometimes, people have a selection of various heirlooms and other valuable items. In this case, offering items based on a rotating selection can be a smart move. Let your beneficiaries take turns choosing an item they want with the order determined by a random method, such as rolling a die or picking numbers out of a hat. This method can prevent disputes and ensure everyone gets their turn to claim valuable family heirlooms.
Sell items to resolve disagreements
Unfortunately, some heirlooms are highly contested belongings between your beneficiaries. If so, the only way to resolve these matters might be to sell an heirloom and split its value among those who wanted it. However, this method isn’t ideal if you want to keep your heirlooms within the family. But it might be the only way to stop disagreements between beneficiaries.
Estate planning sometimes means making difficult decisions about your assets. Thankfully, using asset distribution methods lets each of your loved ones hold onto your valuable items.