How to distribute assets in a will

When it comes to writing an estate plan, you need to decide who your beneficiaries will be. For most people, this will be children, but you may also decide to leave money and items to nieces, nephews, cousins and close friends.

Generally, it is easy to split financial assets. You can leave behind an equal amount of money to all your children to ensure there is no ill will. However, it can become difficult when you have to divide tangible assets. Get help crafting your estate plan in an equitable manner so no one feels left out.

Get appraisals for possessions

You may have acquired numerous belongings over the years. This can include jewelry, furniture, good china and clothing. The best thing you can do is have a professional appraiser come out to designate a value to everything. You may be able to get a good idea of how much clothing costs, but an appraiser comes in handy when you have paintings to divide. This gives you a sense of how much you own. From this point, you can divide all your possessions to your beneficiaries equally. Doing this will also help make it clear you did not play favorites when it came to crafting an estate plan.

Consider selling any property you own

The largest tangible asset anyone will own is a house. Many people want to leave the house to their child, but it becomes complicated when more than one child is in the mix. Another option to consider is to state in your estate plan that you wish to sell the property upon your death. The money from the sale then becomes divided among all your beneficiaries. The most important part of all this is to communicate with your beneficiaries throughout the process. There is no good reason to keep the details of your will a secret. Your kids should know what they will get.