How Do I Handle Personal Property in My Estate Plan?
Throughout your lifetime, you may have collected an innumerous amount of personal items, which may be of value to you both monetarily and sentimentally. You may have even forgotten about some of the smaller pieces of property in your possession. But it is important that, within your estate plan, no stone is left unturned and that each of these items find a home with someone else upon your unfortunate passing. That said, please continue reading to learn how to handle personal property in your estate plan and how one of the experienced Butler County estate planning & probate attorneys at Heritage Elder Law & Estate Planning, LLC can help you establish the appropriate documents.
How do I handle tangible personal property in my estate plan?
Notably, several estate planning documents may do the job of handling your tangible personal property; the most popular one being to use your Last Will and Testament. Within your will, you may explicitly instruct which of your beneficiaries should receive which of your personal items. For example, you may write, “I leave my diamond engagement ring to my eldest daughter.”
Also common is placing your tangible personal property in a revocable living trust. This way, you may still use and benefit from this property throughout the rest of your lifetime. But at the same time, you ensure your appointed trustee will distribute this property to the appropriate, designated beneficiaries when the time is right.
It is worth mentioning that you could also supplement your will with a personal property memorandum. This is a similar document that lists your personal items and describes how they must be dispersed upon your unfortunate passing. However, this may be better for handling smaller property, so your will document may focus on handling your larger property with official title records. Importantly, within your will document, you must reference the existence of a personal property memorandum and declare it as legally binding.
What are some tips to follow when handling personal property?
You may be overwhelmed with the quantity of smaller, personal property you have allocated over the years. It may be almost impossible to remember every last item off the top of your head. This is to say that, before you incorporate tangible personal property into your will, trust, or memorandum, we encourage you to take an official inventory of them.
If you still worry that you overlooked certain personal items, you may want to include a residuary clause within your will or trust. Essentially, this clause directs that any items not mentioned directly in your estate plan should be granted to a certain beneficiary or group of beneficiaries.
If you think now is the time to get started on your estate plan, then please reach out to one of the skilled Butler County estate planning & probate attorneys. Our team at Heritage Elder Law & Estate Planning, LLC is well-equipped to take on your case.
