inheritance issue

The simple answer is yes - give it to the museum with the proviso that the family member can hold it during their life time. Hopefully the museum will follow up

Does the family member appreciate the heirloom and will they properly care for it. How will they dispose of it after death or when no longer of value value to the givee.

Very interesting question. As you know, trusts do this for financial assets. For real estate, a life estate may do what you want.

If a client asked this of me, I would check with an estate planning attorney in the state involved. Beyond that - assets like jewelry, old cars, works of art, etc. - would be tricky (for example, what if someone stole it, defaced it, lost it, ran away to god-knows-where with it, etc.) so it seems impractical to leave it to person A while ASSURING that eventually it will belong to Person B.

Look forward to other replies.

-HW "Skip" Weldon Columbia, SC

At this point the museums that are interested will not take the heirloom due to its condition.

These are apparently hard questions for the giver to answer. The recipient is willing to spend considerable sums to transport and restore the heirloom to museum quality over several years and makes claims that it will be transferred to another family member or to a museum upon the recipient's death. For some reason the giver does not take this at face value and the recipient is looking for a way to reassure the giver.

-Will

william dot trice at ngc dot com

Thanks, Skip. I was trying to leave out some details in the interest of privacy (because I'm a little paranoid when posting to a public forum) but it seems a little more detail may be in order.

The item in question is a grand piano of significance in Oklahoma history as well as in my family history. The presumed recipient is the only member of the family willing or able to take it because of its size. There's not much worry on the part of the giver about theft, defacement, or loss. The main worry is where it goes when the recipient dies (either another member of the family, or to an Oklahoma museum), or to be sure that the recipient doesn't turn around and sell it out of the family after the giver dies. Ironically, if no recipient is found to be acceptable, the giver intends to sell the piano out of the family (with the reasoning that it might as well be the giver that gets money from any sale of the piano). It is unlikely that the recipient would be willing to buy the piano given the sums already required to transport and restore it.

To my knowledge, there is no reason for this distrust of the recipient. I also assume that this is not just a case of the giver having a change of heart and wanting to scare up some extra dollars.

The interested museums are in Oklahoma, the piano is currently in Texas, and the presumed recipient is in a third state. If an estate planning attorney is consulted, in which state should that attorney practice? I don't think the trust or agreement or whatever needs to be ironclad, just enough to reassure the giver, though I don't know how close to ironclad "close enough" would have to be.

-Will

william dot trice at ngc dot com

Does the giver have any other options for bequeathing the item in question? S/he needs to think about this. No museum will take it - s/he's sort of stuck, right?

I saved money for my grandchildren to help them with college. It wasn't a lot of money and it certainly wasn't going to provide a 4 year college education. I am mindful that the money was a gift, so, while I had ideas on its use, it was no longer mine to spend. Your heirloom giver is in the same shoes. Once the item is given, it no longer belongs to him, and he'll be dead anyway.

Elizabeth Richardson

Right, the only other option is to sell immediately to a disinterested party.

-Will

william dot trice at ngc dot com