Executors should list a home's belongings before anything is removed
A new Telegraph guide advises executors to list valuable belongings before anything leaves the house. An independent valuation, written down, makes that list far easier to settle.
Clearing and decluttering
What the guide says
Executors should make a list of a person's valuable belongings before anything is taken out of their home, according to a new guide from The Telegraph (external source).
The guide, by the personal finance journalist Rachel Wait, sets out the work of settling an estate. It covers finding the will, registering the death, inheritance tax and applying for probate. Probate is the legal permission an executor may need to deal with the estate.
The Telegraph says one in six executors only find out they have been named after the person has died, citing figures from Canada Life.
Among the early jobs is keeping the house and its contents safe. Emma Taylor, of Goughs Solicitors, gave the paper this advice.
"It's also sensible to make an inventory of valuable belongings before anything is removed from the property."
Valuations and records
An inventory is simply a written list of what is there. The guide explains that executors must work out what the person owned and owed, and value the estate, before they can tell whether inheritance tax is due.
"You may need to arrange professional valuations of certain assets, too."
For the smaller pieces in a home, such as watches, clocks, medals and jewellery, we can give that valuation. Call us free on 0800 048 8777 or ask for a free postage pack, and we will value them before the house is cleared.
The guide also puts weight on paperwork. Settling an estate can take 12 months or more, The Telegraph says, and clear records help show it was handled properly if a beneficiary later asks about a decision.
"Finally, keep detailed records throughout the administration of the estate."
Our view
Being an executor is a duty, and it usually arrives at a hard time. It often falls to a son or daughter who is grieving too.
A house may have to be cleared quickly. A clearance firm can empty it in a day, and relatives kindly help carry boxes to the car. In that rush, a mantel clock or a tin of medals can leave the house before anyone has looked at it properly.
The guide is right that valuations and records matter. What helps most is a figure that is independent, clear and written down.
Got a box of old items at home? Post it to us free and get one offer for the lot.
Get your free packWhy an independent valuation helps
When a family shares out a home, the hardest conversations are often about who has what, and what it was worth. A valuation from someone with no stake in the estate takes the guesswork out of it.
We are not a relative, a beneficiary or the clearance firm. We carefully value each box and pay a fair price for it, and give one written offer for the whole box. That gives the executor a plain figure to put beside the inventory, to share with the family and to keep with the estate papers.
It is also simple. There is no visit to arrange and nothing to pay. You post one box, and we send the offer within seven days of arrival. If the family would rather keep the items, you say no and we post the box back free of charge.
What you can do this week
Walk round each room with a notebook or a phone. Photograph the contents of drawers and cabinets before anything is moved. Note who has taken which items, and when.
Set aside the photographs, letters and keepsakes the family wants to keep. Then gather the smaller pieces nobody has claimed, such as watches, clocks, medals and jewellery. Old jewellery can be worth hundreds or even thousands of pounds.
Put them in one box before the clearance date, and have them valued before anything else happens to them.
Have the contents valued before the clearance
If you are an executor with a home to clear, the guide's advice comes down to two steps: list what is there, and have it valued before anything leaves. We can help with the second, by post, at no cost. If you do sell, you might put some of the money towards a family dinner to remember them by.
Vintiqi buys vintage items and antiques by post from homes across the UK. We carefully value each box and pay a fair price for it.
We take cameras and lenses, watches and pocket watches, retro games and consoles, medals and militaria, vintage toys, clocks, pens, old coins and banknotes, costume jewellery, jewellery, silver and gold, and much more. See everything on what we buy.
Call us free on 0800 048 8777, Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm. Or visit vintiqi.com and ask for your free postage pack. Put your items in one box, post it to us on the prepaid label, and we make one offer for the whole box within seven days of arrival. The offer stays open for 14 days, and you are free to say no.
Not sure what you have? Send it to us to value.
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Prefer to talk? Call us free on 0800 048 8777