8 Apr
2013
8 Apr
'13
9:41 p.m.
* Tony Duell <ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk> [130408 16:17]:
>
> >> I'm sorry for your loss as well.
> > Thank you.
I'm sorry for your loss as well.
[..]
My problems are absically :
I have some quite rare machines and other artefacts, along with some very
common ones. I also have things which although wuite common are certainly
useful (tools, test gear, etc).
For obvious reasons I want as much of it as possible to be presereed and
enjoyed after I am gone.
Now, if I leavee it to a person (which is, and will remain, my first
choice), there is the possibilty that daid person wil ldie before me. In
which case the will is worthless.
So what I am looking for is an organisation which will be arorund when I
die (which might well be in 40 or more years time) and which will take
what it wants from my stuff and pass the rest on to other people or
organisations.
But such an organisation does nto seem to exist. Oh well, I tried.
-tony
First of all, the usual disclaimers, I'm not a lawyer, nor do I play one
on TV. I haven't even stayed in a Holiday Inn Express (ever, not just
last night.) I'm in the US and not the UK and don't know how estate law
works there (though we're both common law countries starting from the
same point so maybe some of it applies.)
But I have done estate planning here in the US (northeast, MA and NH.)
I have a number of collections which I hope to provide a share of to my
wife and the rest of the shares to my children.
I would think in your case you could set up all of your "collection"
(specified in suitable general legalese so that it doesn't require
updating your will every time you add or dispose of an item in your
"collection") to transfer to a trust that is created upon your death.
You can name trustees (hopefully more than one) in the order you wish
them and if one is not alive then another can become trustee.
To handle the case of all your trustees predeceding you can make
arrangements with lawyers offices who generally make a business of being
"trustees-for-pay." (I don't know if they have to be lawyers, it
doesn't seem like a requirement as long as whatever entity it is can
survive you, but the case here in the US in my experience.)
You'd have to reach some agreement on how they'd be paid. Perhaps, they
can sell items in your collection to pay themselves, or get prepaid,
get paid out of other assets you might have outside of the "collection,"
etc.
You could set terms of the trust such that the trustee should offer the
collection first to museum A then museum B then for the cost of shipping
on this mailing list (if it exists) or any suitable public medium, etc.
Of course the tricky bit will be the arrangement with your "last resort"
trustee.
Another option here is to create an LLC and transfer the entire
"collection" to it with you as the manager and sole member. Then in
your will specify to whom shares of the LLC will pass. Here in the US
there are companies that can be hired to manage the LLC as well in case
there is no one else surviving. This can be used as a way to divide your
"collection" between more than one entity without specifying specific pieces
(with all that entails for issues for the shareholders in the future,) but
that doesn't seem to be your problem.
Or how about trying to find a number of younger individuals with the
same interests as you, becoming friends if you vet them to your liking,
and then use them as trustees. Or just a larger number of any age
friends with the idea that the chances of someone surviving you goes up
the more trustees you get?
FWIW.
Regards,
Todd