Leaving your collection to your heirs?

[coxfan]

Everyone should maintain an updated file on a computer that lists what artifacts you own, their provenance, and estimated values. Make sure you know your heirs know where to find it; say, keep an updated printed copy of the file next to a copy of your will and/or a list of your financial accounts, in a safe deposit box. ( I recently went through one of these lists with my daughter when she stopped by, showing her the artifacts that correspond to it.) It would be helpful also to leave the contact info for a reliable and fair dealer or two, who might want to purchase the item(s).

Your heirs should be given the choice of whether to sell, keep, or donate, after you're gone. But they need to have the info, or they and the artifacts will lose out.

[MSpecht]

In addition to the formalities of wills, trusts, photographs, etc, there is one other thing that I think is very cool, which happened to me once about 15 years ago. There are several things in my collection that specific collector friends have really enjoyed and probably coveted, and tried relentlessly to obtain, over the past bunch of years...

I've discussed with my wife, and left all the necessary information, that when I go down, a couple of these items are going to appear in a couple of mailboxes unannounced, with a short note saying "Thanks for the friendship. Enjoy this as much as I did."

Mike

[prichmond]

As I told my 16 year old. ". Your. Mother has no idea what is in this storage unit. If something happens to me don't let her throw these jerseys away