

You don’t need to include a separate line item for each and every knick-knack and belonging, but be as specific as you can. Step 3: Take an Inventoryīefore you start divvying up personal items, it’s crucial to take stock of everything you have. If your loved one owned real property, including a home, and he or she didn’t leave specific instructions for that property, you’ll likely need help from a probate lawyer. In this article, we’re discussing primarily personal property. If they created an estate plan, both types of property should be included.

You’ll need to be named the executor of the will or as the beneficiary in order to gain control of the person’s property. This depends largely on whether or not the decedent left a legal will or not. The probate process can be relatively simple or very complicated. Matters related to distributing property after someone dies are managed in probate court. Step 1: Understanding Probate Lawīefore you go any further, it’s important to make sure you have the legal right to distribute your loved one’s belongings. And if you’re the beneficiary or heir, that responsibility is yours.īelow, we’ll provide a step-by-step guide for allocating personal belongings after death. Whether they had many personal items or only a few, distributing a loved one’s belongings after death is no easy task. Step 6: Make Copies of Photos and Videos.

Whereas money is easily divided up equally, the value of personal possessions is more challenging to nail down. Personal items like furniture, jewelry, artwork, photographs, and housewares are harder to distribute than money.
TAKE PERSONAL INVENTORY HOW TO
If you have to allocate someone’s belongings after they’ve passed away, you might not know how to begin-and that’s totally understandable.
