Deciding what to do with your personal items such as your favorite piece jewelry that has been handed down from six generations is what many people think of when they make an estate plan. Although most people should be worried about the big assets such as the house or the retirement accounts, there is an inordinate amount spent focusing on small assets. Many times it is not the big assets such as the house or bank accounts that cause fights among family members when an estate is divided.
It is the smaller sentimental items that cause the most fights. These are the items that mean more to individual family members and the items that they are going to be more likely to fight about. This can be the piece of furniture promised to a child years ago or a gift from a child to a parent that meant a lot to them that they would like back. To make sure that an item goes to a potential heir it is best to give that person the item as gift during lifetime, make sure that item is specifically named in the will, or better yet to have a personal property memorandum or separate list of who gets what. A personal property memorandum allows you to name a specific item and who gets it.
