How can I give specific belongings to members of my family?

You may have done estate planning to designate who your major assets, such as homes, vehicles, and life insurance policies, will be passed along to but incorporating smaller personal belongings into your estate plan is also necessary to make sure you are able to choose which beneficiaries will get your collections or items with sentimental or monetary value.

As long as the items you have in mind are tangible personal property, they can be listed along with your desired beneficiary of them on a personal property list that your other estate planning documents mention.  A personal property list is highly flexible as you can change it as you desire without redoing anything else in your estate plan.

Personal property lists can be useful for conveying many items but if the items you have in mind are particularly valuable, either monetarily or emotionally, it may be recommended that you describe who you want these items to be passed to explicitly in your will or trust.  This more formal, less easily modified method is generally more binding and can better prevent conflict among beneficiaries.

If you have further questions or would like help planning for specific items in your estate, contact our office today at (941) 906-1231.