Lately, I’ve found myself having in-depth conversations with some of my older clients about what will happen to their personal effects after they pass away. Many of these clients express the same concerns: they don’t want their beneficiaries to fight over their belongings after their death, they don’t want to burden their families with difficult decisions about what to do with these possessions, they are concerned that their families won’t know how to deal with valuable or niche items, and they are worried about the cost and hassle of shipping items to beneficiaries.

Many of these clients have reached the same conclusion: the best way to deal with these assets is to gift them while you are still alive.

Assuming you are ready to part with some of your personal effects, there are several benefits to making gifts of these items during your lifetime:

• First, making gifts during your lifetime ensures that your wishes are carried out, and (hopefully) prevents disagreements amongst your beneficiaries, as there is an opportunity for discussion and explanation at the time the gift is made.
• As these personal effects will not form part of your estate, to the extent they would otherwise be governed by a Will submitted for probate, it avoids the payment of probate fees on these assets.
• Related to the probate issue, gifting these effects avoids additional compliance obligations that may be required if they form part of your estate (for example, the formal notification for recipients of specific gifts in the Will, and the inclusion of these assets in an Estate Information Return following the receipt of probate).
• Gifting personal effects reduces the amount of “stuff” your executors will have to deal with following your passing and eases the administrative burden on them.
• Finally, and perhaps most importantly, making gifts during your lifetime allows you to see the recipient of the gift enjoy it.

The last point is what inspired me to write this blog. This Christmas, my grandmother gifted a few pieces of her jewelry to my mother and me. We were thrilled with the gifts, and she was happy to see our joy in receiving them (and also happy to have taken some steps to clear some of her things out!) It was a lovely personal reminder of some of the “on the ground” realities of estate planning.

Wishing everyone a great weekend.