After a loved one passes away, emotions about personal property run high. For example, prior to grandma’s death, no one cared about that olive green casserole dish. However, the moment she passed away it became a testament to her delicious goulash. So, how do we avoid family wrangling over personal property? We don’t want to include a list of every item of clothing or other personal property in our wills, because every time we get a new piece of furniture, we would have to redo our will. Fortunately, properly referencing a list of items in your will can avoid this situation.Creating a list of your tangible personal property and designating the recipient of the property will help direct distribution. You’ll need to meet certain requirements, including that you have a will, but you have the advantage that you can direct the distribution of items in that list without needing to update your will. The list may be created before or after the will. You can update or change the list as often as you want and can include almost any sort of tangible property—large or small—including items such as pets, vehicles, or that famous casserole dish and recipe.If you need help creating an estate plan or have questions about how you can create a list for distribution, please stop in or call us at (320) 763-3141.
