The Jewelry Case Study
We recently finished handling an estate administration of the distribution of personal
property. The final stage was organizing, cataloging, coordinating the appraisal, and
managing the distribution of over 200 pieces of fine jewelry. The jewelry was
appraised for over $64,000 and needed to be divided between 3 heirs in 2 different
countries. Oh, did I mention that they don’t speak to each other?
With the catalog of jewelry we produced we worked with all 3 to pick the items they
would like to receive, managed their lists, and identified items that more than one
person wanted (crossovers). With systems we have developed for over 20 years, we
coordinated a fair assignment of the crossovers where everyone received (at the
very least) their top 2 choices of ranked crossovers. We also tracked and presented
the final appraised value of these distributions to the trustee for the process of
equalizing the distribution across the board.
The final task was to securely deliver the jewelry to the heirs and get signatures of
receipt.
A complicated process, an interesting project for us, and a satisfied family, relieved
to be done with the distribution and with no complaints.
Meg has been a professional organizer since 1996 and is a mother of one. She loves to craft, sew, create, organize and design. Her degree in interior design and her years in corporate America and the estate planning industry have created a unique set of interests which she blogs about here.
