Since I am sick of all of the ID threads, I thought I would tweak your brains on a current dilemma on another note entirely.
So, I just went past my 50th birthday. I have three grown children. Kid A could not care less about the "stuff" in Mom and Dad's house. Kid B is slightly aware that there is some "stuff" in the house that might be worth some money. Kid C is totally into all of the "stuff" and will fight to the death to procure it.
Do you just divide in thirds and let them fight it out? Do you resign your self that 66% of it is going to wind up on Craig's list? Do you make an itemized list and parcel it out accordingly?
Remember, I will be dead, so I really don't care. I'm just trying to preserve my "stuff".
And,,,
I propose the following solution to your dilemma:
Arrange for your furniture to be auctioned after you die. Give each of your kids a check, plus 1/3 of the earnings from the auction. The kids are free to bid at the auction (where they'll have an advantage, since they'll only have to pay 2/3 of what they bid) or to buy each other's shares of the furniture before the auction.
Thank you for
the birthday wishes. It was nice to reach the half-century mark and still be sucking air.
To further complicate things, does one take into account how much one child over another has already cost them whilst one is still alive?
In other words, Kid A might not be quite so well off as Kid B or Kid C and the parents have already given Kid A lots of money for survival that they haven't given either B or C. Should we hold this against B and C when it's time to divvy up the stuff?
And, just to throw this into the mix for Mark, what if Kid B has the best fashion sense out of the other two. Does Kid B get extra points for that, or just extra cocktails?
One can do whatever one...
One can do whatever one wishes with one's own money, of course, and divide it among one's children according to any formula... But I don't see anything good coming from a division that isn't strictly equal. If you want to give a little extra to the kid who is least wealthy, give it while you're still alive.
Hi Riki
I agree. You should definetely give the stuff to kid C and compensatory money to the other kids.
I inherited from my grand parents an incredibly designed set of MCM laminated table and chairs, and a whole unit of highly modernist kitchen steel enameled and chrome hanging cabinets and credenzas, and a few others wonderful stuff.
And guess what?
Everybody in the family knew that MCM is hype now. But mother A, Uncle A, Uncle B and brother A were just happy to give it to me : otherwise everything would juste have gone to the garbage.
And now my kid is fond of the steel kitchen elements. He can practice Schoenberg just by opening their doors.
Cheers
I'm betting you won't really care.
Some heirs are bound to be happy while others, maybe not so much no matter prior arrangements or the wishes of the departed.
Assuming the nut never falls far from the tree, I'd have to guess they'll work it out equitably and without fuss when the time comes. Anyway, it's so far off that, by then, the stuff may have little monetary value for all we know.
In the meantime, better to alarm them with threats of selling everything and moving to Florida or some other hare-brained mid-life scheme. They'll forget all about who's gonna get what.
Edited to fix "hair/hare-brained"
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