The “stuff” of an estate – Part 3

  • Recommending legally enforceable allocation of items of sentimental value (a codicil) only if there’s a possibility that legal enforceability might be necessary.
  • Explaining the cumbersome nature of amending a will
  • Providing reference to previous columns about “do it yourself” changes to a will to avoid the legal expense

After beating around the bush for two weeks, I’m finally going to answer the question: Should your allocation of items between your children, i.e. who gets what when you die, be in a codicil?

The first part of the question was whether allocations should be made in the first place. Or should that be left up to your executor.

I got a little carried away. I took two columns to explain that yes, I do recommend making allocations, but only for items of sentimental value.

I recommend against allocating other items, i.e. the expensive dining room suite and big screen TV that your children might compete for, but not for sentimental reasons.

Leave that stuff up to your executor to divvy up:

  1. Your executor can look up online what those used furnishings are worth and attach values to them,
  2. If more than one of your children wants the same item, there can be a mini auction with the item going to the highest bidder,
  3. Items that are not wanted can be sold or given away, and
  4. The overall distribution of the estate can be equalized with other estate funds, i.e. if one child gets the $3,500.00 dining room suite, the other children get $3,500.00 in estate funds.

This doesn’t work for items of sentimental value because they are priceless.

I provided ideas about how you might approach allocating these items. The goal is to achieve a “win-win” result that minimizes hard feelings between your children and might include creative solutions such as shared possession.

After those allocations have been made, should you put them in a codicil?

A codicil is simply an amendment to your will.

To be valid, a codicil must be signed and witnessed in the same manner as a will must be signed and witnessed.

A valid codicil is legally binding.

Do you think that a legally binding allocation of sentimental items will be required to ensure those allocations are followed?

If there’s any hint in your mind that the answer to that question might be “yes”, then I recommend going to the trouble of making a codicil.

The codicil approach is cumbersome because a legal document must be prepared and properly signed and witnessed.

And if your allocations change or a new item of sentimental value needs to be added, that same process has to be repeated.

That can become very expensive if you hire a lawyer or notary to make your codicils and amendments.

I’ve written previous columns, published by Black Press on April 21st and 28th, 2024, that explain how to make “do it yourself” changes to a will. If you have difficulty finding those previous columns, let me know and I’ll send you a link to my complete archive.

If you don’t feel that a legally binding document will be required, you might consider confirming your allocations informally, by sending an e-mail to your children.

If your allocations change, you can send an updated e-mail.

Alternatively, or as an added step, you might put a sticker somewhere on each allocated item with the name of the person you have allocated that item to.

Whatever system you use, ensure that it is fully transparent and consistent. You might cause more harm than good if the name on an item is different from the name in the e-mail!

You can expect this series to extend for at least one more week. Topics to cover include:

  1. What about the allocation of items outside of your immediate family, if you don’t have children or want to leave particular things to a neighbour, friend or a cousin?
  2. What if an item of high sentimental value also happens to have high dollar value?
  3. What about the massive collection of commemorative plates and dolls I referred to last week, which has high value to you, but no value to your beneficiaries?
  4. What if some items have actual collector value but it would take your expertise to know how to sell it?

Please e-mail me ([email protected]) with any other questions you might have about the “stuff” of your estate.

Share this article: