Before the federal estate tax, wills used to go on for pages, listing, for example, specific gifts of items of jewelry, all described in detail. When the federal estate tax was adopted, there was little or no further mention of specific items of jewelry or other valuable items, such as works of art.
Perhaps this had nothing to do with the fact that a revenue agent might read the will and ask the executor why the most expensive items were not listed on the federal estate tax return. It may be that the testator (that's the decedent-to-be who is a male - the female is called a testatrix) simply wanted to save the lawyer's secretary the effort of typing another six pages - that is a very noble motive, you will agree. Surely it had nothing to do with the increased availability of safe deposit boxes to which one's beneficiaries might have access.
If you want to leave specific gifts to beneficiaries, do so with care, and with a thought as to what might happen if later they do not exist or if they are changed into other assets. Also, consider the nature of the gift.
You want to leave your 1998 Buick to your granddaughter, who is just learning to drive. This will be a good beginning automobile for her. In your will you state "I leave my automobile to Betsy."
Do you mean the automobile you own now? Suppose you buy a new Lexus - the one with massagers in the back seats. Do you want Betsy, faced with a steep learning curve, to have that automobile?
You leave your Yahoo stock to your son, Charlie. Suppose Yahoo is bought by Microsoft - do you want to leave your Microsoft shares to Charlie?
You want to leave your 1906 Bosendorfer Viennese grand piano, (this is the one with the high gloss burled walnut finish) worth about $60,000, to your niece, an impoverished music student in San Francisco. Unless you direct your executor to pay shipping costs, the gift loses value, because your niece can't afford to ship the piano to San Francisco.
We discuss this and other concerns in making your will in "How to Help Your Executor." Call us for a copy.
