Estate planning question

$$ numbers are only half of it.  Your survivors will have to deal with enough after you pass--do you want to burden them with even more? Of course, none of us know when that day will come

TRM  One item that would be helpful for whoever handles your estate, insurance claims, family, and for your own satisfaction, is to use AI.  

Put AI to work.

Create an inventory list that includes photos (it will be retrieved from the web), list price, and the price you paid. Current value - that's tricky. And for your own satisfaction, tell it to include specs. And anything you may want. Ask to include the approximate years it was or is on the market. Will the report be 100% accurate? Of course not. Will it be close? Closer than you think. If the photo is wrong, tell it and to go back and keep looking. Make adjustments along the way. 

Tell it to produce 2 color PDF reports. One for the insurance company, executor, or family. 2nd one for yourself, which adds all the info no one would care about. At the end of this whole process, everything will be tidy. My children do show interest, which is great; they can divvy up some of it and get some idea of what the values may be, or at least the valuation ratios. Whatever's left, the go to is TMR. No need to burden them to sell piece by piece.

I left everything to my best friend om 30 some years at the discretion of my Wife. It’s in my Will

I left everything to my best friend of 30 some years at the discretion of my Wife. It’s in my Will

I recommend maintaining a file with all your purchase invoices so your beneficiaries will be horrified by how much you spent on your gear

Also, I have a couple relatives and because I’m a really mean spirited person I plan to give one of my main speakers to one and the other main speaker to the other and let them figure it out.

I keep a personal file with all my passwords and other info on how I process on my bills between credit cards and direct bank payments so people can follow my monthly financial activity which is a very nice thing to do. This info also includes a list of beneficiaries for all my accounts which is also nice to do.

Try not to include percentages as to how your estate will be split up because that just means it will all be appraised and liquidated.  This will make it difficult for your family members to pursue what they want and that’s really sad. recommend individually identifying who gets what for the significant items, that’s a very humane to do and that way key family items will not be required to be appraised and possibly liquidated by estate sale which is absolutely horrifying and a great way to diminish the value of everything you have. Don’t put your family members in a position where they have to pay what the appraisal says it’s worth to purchase something you want from your estate.

specifically identify your equipment to individual beneficiaries as best you can and then if they choose to sell it they can do it at their leisure and maybe they will come to love it just like you did. That way you don’t have beneficiaries, executors and liquidators being at the mercy of appraisers, etc.

Try to anticipate the final accounting process of your estate and make it as simple as possible to avoid incredible stress by those trying to settle your estate and obviously to reduce attorney fees.