If you are overwhelmed with the rules or logistics for dissolving a lifetime’s collection of property, now or in anticipation of a friend or relative’s passing, you may benefit from learning more from our perspective and what Alex Cooper can do to make the process easier.
Many people mythologize the transference of wealth and assets from one generation to another. Succession is guided by ancient rules updated overtime to form today’s legal precedent. This is to say that collective experience has shown what does and does not work when one singly owned collection needs to be broken up; as an auction house, we are uniquely positioned to positively reflect on this experience to advise you with your estate property.
Lot 1300, Alex Cooper: Art, Furniture, Rugs & Decorative Arts, December 16th, 2023, Italian School, 18th Century Allegorical Scene Oil
Start by thinking of a story - once upon a time, there was a great king with castles filled with ancestral art and furniture, vaults of silver to pay his vassals, and a jewelry horde gifted from distant rulers. He derived scant pleasure from his riches; a kingdom won through war left him restless rather than content. He distrusted his courtiers, whose gifted lands and private agendas lay only loosely bound to the crown. His children posed a greater threat—volatile, easily swayed, and drawn to ruinous behavior. In an already factious age, they stirred further chaos and gave little hope of honoring his memory. Across his long life, the king had seen wealth destroyed by folly over and over again. Yet he was left with the decision to choose one heir he believed could bear such absolute power.
Wars were fought over inheritance claims and early wealth preservation relied on primogeniture—leaving all assets to the firstborn son—predominantly to magnify the benefits of security from centralized budgeting and autonomy from consolidated wealth.
Much like then, estate planning today clarifies uncertainty—and you, like the king, can use it to find reassurance that your wishes will be fulfilled beyond your lifetime.
A modern family’s estate plan is not too different from those of medieval Europe. There is a decedent, their heirs, and other stakeholders standing to profit or suffer, including creditors and employees, along with income, debts, and accumulated wealth to consider: an estate plan is a proactive system of communication, documentation, and preparatory actions in anticipation to an individual’s decline and eventual passing.
The property of the departed, generally being of the most interest to most people, needs new owners and depending on its characteristics and the circumstances of the distribution there may be taxes, insolvency, interpersonal conflict, and in worst-case scenarios actual court litigation. Estate planning manages an individual’s property to mitigate unnecessary distributions and simplify the process for heirs, improve tax benefits for the estate, attend to bills, credit, and debts to avoid rushed sales that discount the value of an asset, and hopefully resolve grievances to avoid court action.
A word frequently used in relation to estate planning is Probate or the court’s proving the validity of an individual’s (Last) Will (and Testament) (just one part of an estate plan). While not fundamentally bad, Probate can sometimes be challenging for some people: if a will is successfully disputed by a person of interest, absent, or rejected by the court an administrator may be replaced and/or local (Civil) laws may take priority independent to the deceased’s requests. Another prominent reason someone may not want an estate to go to probate is because the court orders a death be made public.
I am not an attorney nor providing any legal advice, I am not a tax accountant nor will I file your return, and I am not a bank trustee nor will I incorporate your wealth to generate the strongest adjusted return – I am a personal property appraiser. My significance in relation to the entire process I acknowledge is and should always be small; however, appraisals are invaluable to an estate’s strategy and depending on the situation my report may be instrumental to the future of an estate. As an appraiser, I am contracted by an attorney or personal representative of an estate to efficiently inspect and document the contents of a home, properly identity individual or grouped property, and research the market wherein it is most typically traded in order to reach an objective opinion of value. Depending on the scope of work discussion with a client the actual appraisal may be underscored or drawn-out: a large or disorganized estate can take several hours to a few days while a well-prepared estate or one as part of a reoccurring estate-plan may be completed within an hour.
Appraisers are specially trained, experienced to know where to look in a residence and to intuitively know when things merit additional attention or not. The process guides administrators through an estate’s obscure assets; emphasizing what item or collection is normal, atypical, or extraordinary and administrators may then use this to the best interest of their estate. Average individuals are not arbiters of value, but usually know: what they like, what they paid for something once-upon-a-time, or they may be biased, offput by, or sentimentally attached to something in connection with a memory.
After death, a qualified appraisal may be used by an estate administrator to estimate a source of potential revenue against a static component of gross tax basis: providing drilled-down value summaries for individual beneficiaries, cross-referencing and isolating individual bequests, while highlighting property of note or insignificance.
Lot 422, Alex Cooper: Fine Jewelry, Accessories, Silver, & Coins, December 14th, 2023, S. Kirk & Son Sterling Repousse Hot Water Pitcher
Despite being often required upon death, the most useful appraisals for estate planning are done prior to an individual’s death. This helps maintain accurate collection information, as values can fluctuate significantly every ten years, and collectors will find scrolling through an inventory organized on a computer less taxing than moving between rooms with a notepad. The process prepares them to have conversations with their attorney, accountant, banker, and, most importantly, their family about the future of their collection. An appraiser is an objective valuator, not an advocate; however, they are also real people who are called to their occupation through passion. They are invested in their communities and are concerned for the welfare and sustainability of its collectors.
Lot 1428, Alex Cooper: Art, Furniture, Rugs, & Decorative Arts, August 26th, 2023, Rare Chinese Export Royal Double Portrait Saucer
Alex Cooper is honored to be trusted with your estate appraisal - It is never too early to start an estate plan and we are happy to provide you with the best recommendation for its champion.