Is a percentage a good way to go for heirs?
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Is a percentage a good way to go for heirs?
I am the trustee of a friend. She is leaving percentages of her estate to some of her
relatives and organizations. It’s not a large estate but she has a lot of ‘stuff’ that
would need to be sold. We’ve talked about other options and I feel as if they would
be waiting forever for me to sell her things.
Asked on February 18, 2017 under Estate Planning, Michigan
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 7 years ago | Contributor
There really are only two ways to go:
1) What your friend wants: sell all the properties, items, other assets, etc. and distribute the money by percentage; or
2) Give each person some of the actual objects--then they an keep them, trade them, sell them, etc. as they choose.
The first approach works well if the "stuff" is of such different values that no way to fairly divide the items themselves is possible and also if there is no sentimental, aesthetic, or collectable value to most of it--i.e. it's only worth whatever it will bring in. Even if takes a long time to sell, this is probably the best way to deal with a collection of "stuff"like this.
The second approach works well if the belongings or assets have some value other than monetary (e.g. artwork, china, jewlery, collectables, etc.) and if collectively, there is enough "stuff" of roughly equivalent value that they items can be divided fairly.
The approaches can be mixed of course: for example, if the friend has a nice jewlery or art collection as well as other "stuff," physically distribute the art and jewels immediately, then over time sell the rest and distribute the money.
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