Avoiding Family Disputes: Utilizing Lists Disposing of Personal Property in Your Estate Plan

Oftentimes the most treasured pieces of property in an estate are those items which you do not hold formal legal title to. Unlike a car or home where ownership is evidenced by a title or deed, there are typically no such records for family heirlooms such as china dishes, jewelry, photo albums or vinyl records signed by the Beach Boys.

When the owner of these personal property items dies, the items are generally given to the beneficiaries named in the owner’s will or trust. But oftentimes the items are given by way of general provisions. For example, a will may provide that half of a person’s entire estate will go to Son and the other half will go to Daughter. In that case, half of the personal property items will go to Son and half will go to Daughter. The executor ultimately decides how to allocate the personal property items between Son and Daughter ,which may cause a rift between Son and Daughter if they do not see eye to eye on who gets what. They may ultimately decide to go to court to resolve their dispute, which costs time and money. The person creating the will or trust could specifically designate which items of personal property will go to Son and which will go to Daughter to avoid this outcome; however, this can be difficult because people collect, lose, and gift personal property items to family and friends throughout their lives. Thus, what a person owns in terms of personal property is not static. Because of this, drafting a specific provision for each personal property item in a will or trust would likely be inefficient, as the document would need to be continually updated to reflect a current inventory and disposition of that inventory.

Fortunately, Nevada law does not require this kind of drafting and instead offers an alternative, which allows a will or trust to reference another document known as a "List Disposing of Tangible Personal Property". This list is legally binding and can govern the disposition of personal property items.

To be legally binding, the list must contain the following:

1. The date the list is executed;
2. A title on the document indicating its purpose (such as, "List Disposing of Tangible Personal Property");
3. A reference to the will or trust to which it relates;
4. A reasonably certain description of the item to be disposed of and the beneficiaries; and
5. The handwritten or electronic signature of the person disposing of the property.

This list may be prepared before or after a will or trust is executed and it can be altered or amended at any time.

To take advantage of this statutory provision that allows for the disposition of tangible personal property by list contact one of our attorneys and we can help you to create a comprehensive estate plan where these most treasured items will be disposed of according to your wishes, thereby reducing the potential in-fighting among your beneficiaries.