When a loved one dies, he or she leaves behind much more than assets in a will or trust. There are treasured memories, of course. And what about all the “stuff” that Mom or Dad accumulated over the years? Many of these items have sentimental value at the very least, and others might have monetary value as well. Is the brooch that Mom’s mother gave her when she was a girl actually worth a lot of money?
Brooch in Red and Yellow (Photo credit: merlinprincesse)
Forbes recently ran an article exploring this topic. It referenced the television show Antiques Roadshow and discussed how the show’s popularity has given birth to a cottage industry of low-cost or even free appraisal events throughout the United States, often hosted by non-profits, banks, auction houses, and others.
If you’ve ever watched Antiques Roadshow, you might be under the impression that practically every heirloom passed on to children by their parents is worth a considerable amount of money. No doubt this makes for a better show, but the Forbes article points out that the vast majority of items people bring in for appraisal have little if any dollar value. And even when they do, these appraisals are known in the industry as “verbal approximations of value.” To determine how much an heirloom is actually worth for the purposes of dividing assets equitably among surviving family members or purchasing insurance to protect the item, it is necessary to obtain a written, formal appraisal.
So is that painting your parents picked up on their trip to Paris, or that armoire passed down from one generation to the next, actually worth something? Absolutely! Even if an appraiser tells you that it has no monetary value, if the heirloom reminds you of your father or mother, it can be conservatively valued as “priceless.”