E211 Use a Personal Property Memorandum to Bequeath your Stuff

<p>Many people make this mistake with personal property when creating their estate plan: They include a long laundry list of the tiniest items in their official, legal will.</p> <p>We’ll discuss why this can be a problem, and what you should do instead.</p> <h2>Leaving personal property in a will</h2> <p><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-9839" src= "https://anthonyspark.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Leaving-personal-property-in-a-will-300x209.jpg" alt="Leaving personal property in a will" width="300" height= "209" /></p> <p>It is very common to leave personal property in a will. However, it can cause problems during the probate process.</p> <p>Personal property lists change frequently. The items on the list may change, or you may change who you want to receive the items. You won’t want to pay money to update your will every time there is a change on the list.</p> <p>Unlike a bank account, it’s hard to put a value on your personal property. Some personal property items that might make sense to put in the will are large or expensive items. Examples of these are a classic car, expensive jewelry and art, and collectibles. To determine whether the item has significant value, ask yourself: would this item be worth sending to an appraiser?</p> <h2>Personal property you should never put in your will</h2> <p>To re-cap, items that are fine to put in your will are ones with big value, worth paying for an appraisal, and things that you will likely still own when you die.</p> <p>People love to put furniture in their wills, but this isn’t usually a good idea. Furniture is often in poor condition, heavy, and costly to move. It also puts pressure on the beneficiaries who may not have wanted the furniture, as most people already have complete furnished houses.</p> <p><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-9840" src= "https://anthonyspark.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Personal-property-you-should-never-put-in-your-will-300x169.jpg" alt="Personal property you should never put in your will" width= "300" height="16