shadroch Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 A comment on another thread got me to thinking about a conversation I had with an Uncle a decade ago. Uncle Bill was a coin collector who had saved coins for well over 50 years. After he retired, he took a job at Belmont racetrack and was allowed to pull coins and bills as long as he replaced them. Bit by bit, his collection grew and was worth well over $100,000 at the time. While he pushed his collecting on all his nephews, only myself and one other cousin got into collecting. So it surprised me when he said he was going to leave his collection to all his nieces and nephews. I didn't feel it was right that he had two of us who really liked coins but my cousins who had zero interest in them would get the same as I would. He felt the coins were no different than stocks, and it shouldn't matter if someone liked a coin or a stock. That he would leave all of us as equal share as he could. We have people with substantial collections here. Suppose you have a son who sort of collects comics and two that have no interest in them. Are you comfortable leaving one child a half million dollar asset and none to the other kids? Do you lump the comics value in to the estate so one kid gets them all but forfeits their value? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattTheDuck Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 If I expected heirs to inherit relatively equally, I would set up the bequests in that fashion. So if I have one heir who cares about the comics and one who doesn't, I'd leave all the comics to the one who cares, and the one who doesn't something else of equal value. I'm not sure I understand leaving a collection (or part of one) to someone who doesn't care about it. I can imagine getting trapped in a situation where no one cares, but then you've done a poor job of preparing your heirs. jcjames and thehumantorch 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revat Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 On 1/4/2022 at 2:02 PM, shadroch said: A comment on another thread got me to thinking about a conversation I had with an Uncle a decade ago. Uncle Bill was a coin collector who had saved coins for well over 50 years. After he retired, he took a job at Belmont racetrack and was allowed to pull coins and bills as long as he replaced them. Bit by bit, his collection grew and was worth well over $100,000 at the time. While he pushed his collecting on all his nephews, only myself and one other cousin got into collecting. So it surprised me when he said he was going to leave his collection to all his nieces and nephews. I didn't feel it was right that he had two of us who really liked coins but my cousins who had zero interest in them would get the same as I would. He felt the coins were no different than stocks, and it shouldn't matter if someone liked a coin or a stock. That he would leave all of us as equal share as he could. We have people with substantial collections here. Suppose you have a son who sort of collects comics and two that have no interest in them. Are you comfortable leaving one child a half million dollar asset and none to the other kids? Do you lump the comics value in to the estate so one kid gets them all but forfeits their value? I would absolutely feel comfortable leaving all to one (or more) who actually care about the collection. HOWEVER, I may be inclined, if your kids/heirs care about the division of inheritance generally, to discuss this with all the potential heirs ahead of time. If your only assets are $500K of comics and a $200K house, that is a totally different situation than $500K of comics and $10M of other assets. I don't like the idea of the heirs dictating what happens to your stuff (it is your stuff, and yours to do with what you want), but often if its at least discussed ahead of time plans can be made to make things easier/more equitable/more amicable in the future (such as setting up wills and trusts, etc). Here's an example: You've got $600,000 of comics and a house worth $400K, and two kids, OLDER and YOUNGER. OLDER loves the comics. Your goal is to split things evenly. Certainly one option is to liquidate everything upon death and split ALL the money. But if you got one or two (or a few) big books that equal $100K, you can tell your kids RIGHT NOW (and put it in the will and trust) that OLDER gets ALL OF THE BOOKS except the 2 withheld (= $100K), which go to YOUNGER along with the house. Of course you notify them ahead of time informing them that obviously the price of the comics and house can change before your death, so hopefully they see this as reasonable, and OLDER gets to keep your collection mostly intact. And they hopefully won't whine about the change in values so much when you pass, because they pre-agreed (or at least were informed of) to this. As a side note: Anyone reading this can consider creating a trust to create a new tax-basis upon death with the ultimate goal of the heir paying less taxes upon the sale. Talk to your financial planner and/or CPA about that. jcjames 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wombat Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 The big problem I see is if you are trying to split things equally overall money wise between multiple people is valuing a large collection. Also the costs associated with liquidating a large collection. As opposed to cash/stocks/real estate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theCapraAegagrus Posted January 5, 2022 Share Posted January 5, 2022 Quote Are you comfortable leaving one child a half million dollar asset and none to the other kids? Do you lump the comics value in to the estate so one kid gets them all but forfeits their value? I will apply your question to my father's situation, rather than myself. My dad has a decent amount of musical equipment, as he always wanted to build a studio in his basement. While all 3 of his sons were gifted instruments and enrolled in lessons, I am the only one that ever took to it. My brothers ended up giving me their bass guitars and drums after high school since they didn't even try to play anymore. My dad has told me that when the fateful day comes, he is leaving all of his equipment to me, including old and pristine Les Paul guitars. I'm sure that he's 'balancing' inheritances so that we're all taken care of, but he knows that I will appreciate those items more than anyone else. It's somewhat similar to my grandfather (Dad's dad), who intended on giving me his Superman #1 and Batman #1 comics when I exited high school, but they were destroyed. I don't think that my grandfather had any other assets that he intended on giving to my brothers though. Those simply happened to be things that he kept from childhood that massively appreciated in value, and I was the organized grandchild who enjoyed comics the most. ThothAmon and jcjames 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GACollectibles Posted January 5, 2022 Share Posted January 5, 2022 On 1/4/2022 at 5:02 PM, shadroch said: A comment on another thread got me to thinking about a conversation I had with an Uncle a decade ago. Uncle Bill was a coin collector who had saved coins for well over 50 years. After he retired, he took a job at Belmont racetrack and was allowed to pull coins and bills as long as he replaced them. Bit by bit, his collection grew and was worth well over $100,000 at the time. While he pushed his collecting on all his nephews, only myself and one other cousin got into collecting. So it surprised me when he said he was going to leave his collection to all his nieces and nephews. I didn't feel it was right that he had two of us who really liked coins but my cousins who had zero interest in them would get the same as I would. He felt the coins were no different than stocks, and it shouldn't matter if someone liked a coin or a stock. That he would leave all of us as equal share as he could. We have people with substantial collections here. Suppose you have a son who sort of collects comics and two that have no interest in them. Are you comfortable leaving one child a half million dollar asset and none to the other kids? Do you lump the comics value in to the estate so one kid gets them all but forfeits their value? Ultimately I think it's up to the individual to decide what they want done with their belongings, and the opinion of others with vested interest or not is irrelevant. To make the decision easier, do what I did: Have just one kid. piper, Timmay, Off Panel and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marvelmaniac Posted January 5, 2022 Share Posted January 5, 2022 My Son (45) and Daughter (42) will receive all of my collection, 2000 books + numerous other Marvel collectibles/memorabilia. Who gets what is stated in my Will, at the time of the writing of the Will my Son was still into collecting so I left him the books that he would be interested in, my Daughter has already told me she is only interested in the $$$, now that my Son is no longer collecting that is all a moot point, they will sell the entire collection and split the proceeds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigLeagueCHEW Posted January 5, 2022 Share Posted January 5, 2022 On 1/4/2022 at 2:02 PM, shadroch said: A comment on another thread got me to thinking about a conversation I had with an Uncle a decade ago. Uncle Bill was a coin collector who had saved coins for well over 50 years. After he retired, he took a job at Belmont racetrack and was allowed to pull coins and bills as long as he replaced them. Bit by bit, his collection grew and was worth well over $100,000 at the time. While he pushed his collecting on all his nephews, only myself and one other cousin got into collecting. So it surprised me when he said he was going to leave his collection to all his nieces and nephews. I didn't feel it was right that he had two of us who really liked coins but my cousins who had zero interest in them would get the same as I would. He felt the coins were no different than stocks, and it shouldn't matter if someone liked a coin or a stock. That he would leave all of us as equal share as he could. We have people with substantial collections here. Suppose you have a son who sort of collects comics and two that have no interest in them. Are you comfortable leaving one child a half million dollar asset and none to the other kids? Do you lump the comics value in to the estate so one kid gets them all but forfeits their value? Short answer, I have 2 boys, 1 interested in Comics, the other is not. I would leave them to 1 son, with a condition that if they were ever sold off, the proceeds will have to be divided by all of my children. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadroch Posted January 5, 2022 Author Share Posted January 5, 2022 On 1/5/2022 at 9:49 AM, BigLeagueCHEW said: Short answer, I have 2 boys, 1 interested in Comics, the other is not. I would leave them to 1 son, with a condition that if they were ever sold off, the proceeds will have to be divided by all of my children. I'm not sure you could do that. Once the books are distributed to a heir, they are his. There may be a legal way to do what you want but I don't think a simple statement would cover it. One thing I learned from doing two estates is that verbal wishes are almost useless unless everyone involved agrees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Namtak Posted January 5, 2022 Share Posted January 5, 2022 Leave everything comics related to us boardies by doing a kind of raffle we will gladly pay for shipping i think BigLeagueCHEW, Larryw7 and comicjack 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigLeagueCHEW Posted January 5, 2022 Share Posted January 5, 2022 On 1/5/2022 at 9:08 AM, shadroch said: I'm not sure you could do that. Once the books are distributed to a heir, they are his. There may be a legal way to do what you want but I don't think a simple statement would cover it. One thing I learned from doing two estates is that verbal wishes are almost useless unless everyone involved agrees. I figured, money brings out the evil in everyone. Verbal is pretty much based on trust, which is very rare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Robot Man Posted January 5, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted January 5, 2022 On 1/5/2022 at 4:08 AM, theCapraAegagrus said: I will apply your question to my father's situation, rather than myself. My dad has a decent amount of musical equipment, as he always wanted to build a studio in his basement. While all 3 of his sons were gifted instruments and enrolled in lessons, I am the only one that ever took to it. My brothers ended up giving me their bass guitars and drums after high school since they didn't even try to play anymore. My dad has told me that when the fateful day comes, he is leaving all of his equipment to me, including old and pristine Les Paul guitars. I'm sure that he's 'balancing' inheritances so that we're all taken care of, but he knows that I will appreciate those items more than anyone else. It's somewhat similar to my grandfather (Dad's dad), who intended on giving me his Superman #1 and Batman #1 comics when I exited high school, but they were destroyed. I don't think that my grandfather had any other assets that he intended on giving to my brothers though. Those simply happened to be things that he kept from childhood that massively appreciated in value, and I was the organized grandchild who enjoyed comics the most. All of my stuff will go to my wife if she out lives me. She is a very savy antique dealer and I have given her specific people to call to sell. She has absolutely no interest in my stuff so it will be an emotionless decision for her. I have two married daughters. We have agreed to leave each of them my two classic cars which I am sure they will keep. My one son in law will get two vintage motorcycles. The other will get my 4 vintage electric guitars and a couple amps. He is a player so I know he will love them and put them to good use. Then there is my comic books, vintage toys and advertising pieces. My kids have zero interest in them. Other than a few pieces that they have no idea of value, I know they will keep. I have given them a complete inventory list and several people to call. I told them to just take the best cash offer and smile all the way to the bank. I would hope they save a few cool things for my two grandaughters if they want them. At the end of the day, they will have no idea of what I paid for them or they would be laughing all the way to the bank. I am just a lover of cool old junk and the caretaker of them. I hope they will eventually land with folks who will love them and take as good of care of them that I have. 1950's war comics, Moondog, gadzukes and 6 others 8 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted January 5, 2022 Share Posted January 5, 2022 On 1/5/2022 at 9:32 AM, BigLeagueCHEW said: I figured, money brings out the evil in everyone. Verbal is pretty much based on trust, which is very rare. Yes, I have even seen it in my own family… BigLeagueCHEW 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoMan Posted January 5, 2022 Share Posted January 5, 2022 I'm gonna have someone drive around in a limo late at night and randomly give out my comics to passersby comicjack, grebal, Larryw7 and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grebal Posted January 5, 2022 Share Posted January 5, 2022 ^I like it! Some vague concept of "fairness to my heirs" won't enter into it for me either. I'll end up giving more to the ones I like, and little to the ones I dislike. For whatever (very possibly) arbitrary reason that might suit the crotchety old man I'll probably turn out to be. There's sorta of a mercenary 'survival of the fittest' aspect too, see if any of them are smart and calculating or if they're all morons - if any of them had a lick of sense they'd have been like "ooh what a humongous AF 15 you have, sir" and I'd be like "oh you're totally getting that one when I die." djzombi, lizards2 and Azkaban 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William-James88 Posted January 5, 2022 Share Posted January 5, 2022 On 1/4/2022 at 5:02 PM, shadroch said: A comment on another thread got me to thinking about a conversation I had with an Uncle a decade ago. Uncle Bill was a coin collector who had saved coins for well over 50 years. After he retired, he took a job at Belmont racetrack and was allowed to pull coins and bills as long as he replaced them. Bit by bit, his collection grew and was worth well over $100,000 at the time. While he pushed his collecting on all his nephews, only myself and one other cousin got into collecting. So it surprised me when he said he was going to leave his collection to all his nieces and nephews. I didn't feel it was right that he had two of us who really liked coins but my cousins who had zero interest in them would get the same as I would. He felt the coins were no different than stocks, and it shouldn't matter if someone liked a coin or a stock. That he would leave all of us as equal share as he could. We have people with substantial collections here. Suppose you have a son who sort of collects comics and two that have no interest in them. Are you comfortable leaving one child a half million dollar asset and none to the other kids? Do you lump the comics value in to the estate so one kid gets them all but forfeits their value? At this moment where collectible comics are considered as part of asset class, it becomes no different than a house or a car (or shares, like your uncle put it) that is left as part of an inheritance to be distributed equally. What tends to happen is if a particular person wants more than their share (take two brothers splitting a car or a house), they have to pay the others to buy their share. What will happen if I ever do die is I will ask that everything be sent to Heritage and the proceeds will go in a legacy account to be split evenly among my kids. However, I do hope that during my lifetime I will instead give some of my treasured comics to them if they express interest in collecting. My nephew is cute, but not cute enough to get my GA Joker covers! Robot Man 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rexinnih Posted January 5, 2022 Share Posted January 5, 2022 Well my two daughters don't have much interest in my collection but my plan is to slowly sell off in my retirement years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post William-James88 Posted January 5, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted January 5, 2022 On 1/5/2022 at 12:35 PM, Robot Man said: I am just a lover of cool old junk and the caretaker of them. I hope they will eventually land with folks who will love them and take as good of care of them that I have. Just wanted to say that ever since I came on these boards, you showed me the ropes and helped guide me to improving my collection. You've been like a father to me, hopefully you think of me as a son Lord Gemini, speedcake, Larryw7 and 7 others 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoMan Posted January 5, 2022 Share Posted January 5, 2022 in all seriousness i still have to get my will changed. as the wife and i have no children the bigger books are given to some mess friend of the wife who doesn't like me and i don't like him. it's really something i have to sit down with the lawyer and do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted January 5, 2022 Share Posted January 5, 2022 On 1/5/2022 at 10:03 AM, William-James88 said: Just wanted to say that ever since I came on these boards, you showed me the ropes and helped guide me to improving my collection. You've been like a father to me, hopefully you think of me as a son You bet son. Just wear your rubbers and a mask in public! BigLeagueCHEW, William-James88 and Moondog 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
