The strains and stresses on surviving children from the death of parents happen because it’s a time of grief. Even people committed to reducing their material possessions may desperately want Grandma’s cracked teapot or Mother’s engagement ring. A casual inquiry among friends often brings forth horror stories of damage done to families when they are dividing their parents’ or grandparents’ possessions.
Maybe we can devise guidelines to help steer into a calmer scenario — remember that the primary motive should be to preserve family relationships. However, if everyone has the attitude that they want to get the best deal or redress what they believe are old imbalances, they’ll have a hard time putting those feelings behind them for the good of the family. After all, dealing with items from one’s childhood can reawaken all kinds of long-forgotten jealousies, pain, and desires.
Important Guidelines:
- Going through your parents’ possessions after they’ve passed away is a task faced with heavy hearts and frayed nerves. But keep your eyes on the prize and remember that nothing — no thing — is as important as maintaining good relationships.
- Go through the process knowing the horror stories, and determine to keep your relationships intact.
- Work hard, talk a lot. Try to see your major stumbling blocks and what helps overcome them. Talk to your friends about their experiences. Share ahead of time what you’ve learned about property division.
- Look for ways to delay giving up your parents’ home and possessions. Having to make decisions in a short time adds to the stress.
- Realize that each item is packed with emotion, which adds stress to dealing with deciding about material things and increases your sense of loss.
- Try filling just one box with very personal things — your parents’ writings, photo albums, and mementos — and go through this together at some later time. This allows you to delay dealing with the most emotionally charged things and points to a future reunion to look forward to.
- Remember to allow for grief. There are many agendas when families gather — the more emotional the occasion, the more likely it is that needs will clash. The more fatigued or stressed people are, the more difficult their interactions.
- Before thinking of how to divide things, think about grief. There is a great sense of loss, which hits each family member differently.
- Each small item can seem indispensable. Be clear about your priorities. If your strongest desire is to maintain or improve your family relationships, realize why everyone is so involved with material things. Possessions have an emotional history — the tools Dad used, the cradle Mom may have slept in. Some seem to embody a moment of closeness with a parent, a special memory, or a family event. Try to give yourselves time to think and talk about the underlying meanings and memories.
- If there are any items that everyone wants, they can be shared. A favorite pair of silver candlesticks? How about deciding that they can spend a year in each child’s home? Passing the candlesticks around can become a ritual with each family.
- What about the things no one wants? One person’s throwaway is another person’s treasure. This will help with the initial sorting: Each family member is given a batch of stick-on dots in a different color. Each can go through a cupboard, closet or drawer and put a dot on anything we can give away. Put the unchosen items in the donations pile. Items with two or more dots fall into a discussion category, since more than one heir wants them. Those with just one dot are ready to be packed away for the heir who chose them.
How do you deal with a great deal of stuff with a minimum of discussion? Give each sibling an individual task to be done while another is moving on and still others need a break. This works great for families who are unable to schedule much time to work together. When a job is completed, check it off. This will help you appreciate what you have accomplished.
If you need more help, speak with a lawyer, like an estate planning lawyer from Bott & Associates, Ltd., today. He or she will be able to give you practical steps in moving forward, even in a difficult time.