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Artifcts \ Articles \ GUEST CURATOR \ How Well-Managed Is Your Family History Estate?

GUEST CURATOR, LEGACY, PLANNING & MORE, GENEALOGY & FAMILY HISTORY

How Well-Managed Is Your Family History Estate?

Thomas MacEntee, Genealogy Bargains

October 21, 2023

We’ve all seen recent media articles of Baby Boomers confronting how their possessions should be handled after they’ve died. While the topics of “Swedish death cleaning” and “tidying up” are at the forefront, few articles discuss how “family history” should be passed on, too, so that it contributes to a family’s legacy.

Even if you haven’t self-published a family history book, researched your roots for years, or even built a family tree, you’ve likely been a “steward” for at least some stories, heirlooms, and “stuff.”

Family Keeper vs. Family Steward

There is a big difference between a “keeper” of a family’s history and a “steward” of items which make up that history. Different mindsets seem to govern how each person approaches their possessions.

A keeper often has a protective sense of ownership of items and sometimes becomes defensive when asked to share them. You may have encountered an aunt or an uncle who is sitting on family photo albums, boxes of heirlooms, etc. They tend to treat these items as “holy relics” and have a wealth of stories to go along with each item. And when you ask them how they plan to pass those items on to someone else in the family, often they evade the topic or are at a loss for words (and plans).

A steward takes a very different approach, like someone tending a garden. Not only have they taken the time to preserve photos and heirlooms against damage and loss, but they’ve also documented the stories that bring those items to life in fixed form, not just in your memory. And after years of cultivating that family history “garden,” they are willing to pass the items to a younger generation of stewards who can continue to preserve the family’s legacy.

Cultivating Your Family History Garden

Going from keeper to steward can be challenging. Here are some tips and tricks on making that journey:

Take a deep breath. If you are in possession of years of photos and other family items, start with small mini-projects to avoid becoming overwhelmed. This could mean simply sorting photos from slides and negatives. The next project would then be to decide what gets scanned and how to scan them. Then move on to the next project, and the next project, and so on.
Create a stewardship plan. If you find yourself jumping from project to project without making any progress, create a simple plan. Name the task, write a short description, enter a start date and desired end date. Add a notes section so that if you do jump to a new project without finishing the current one, you note where you left off.

Set priorities. Some stewards will “rank” their projects using a “1, 2, 3” method. A 1 signifies high priority projects such as interviewing the oldest relatives in the family. Use a 2 for medium priority projects such as documenting family stories and getting them in a fixed format. And finally, 3 is for low priority projects such as file renaming of scanned photos.

About those oldest relatives, legendary television news anchor Bob Jordan agrees. Watch this snippet. The complete discussion from Evenings with Artifcts with Bob is available here.

Leverage technology. Today many tools are available to assist with completing those family history projects, and it can be difficult to determine which tools are the best. Look for tools that help you document family stories and heirlooms—like Artifcts—and allow you to share that process and results with other family members.

Artifcts can help you build a virtual “family history library” that is easy to pass on to others in the family. Consider using the QR code available for each Artifct you create and place it on or near an heirloom. The next time family members visit, sit back, and wait for the younger ones to scan the code with their mobile device to learn more about that heirloom. I also recommend printing the QR code for your entire Artifcts collection and including it with your important documents, like your will, deeds, and insurance policies.

Conclusion

We all want to be good caretakers of our family history, but the mere idea of passing away can cause the work of stewardship to be delayed. Remember, you don’t have to go it alone. There are so many products, tools, and services that can help you go from keeper to steward.

And there’s no reason why you can’t involve the younger generation NOW rather than waiting until it is too late. Create a series of family projects using Artifcts to document family heirlooms and to share their stories so those precious items finally have a voice and can be heard.

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If family history and genealogy are on your mind, we have additional ARTIcles by Artifcts that might interest you!

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Estate Planning of Things

Over the last several years, there has been a movement in technology called the “Internet of Things.” This is the growing interconnection, via the internet, of computing devices embedded in everyday objects. At some point in the future, all our home and business technology are expected to be seamless and interconnected.

In the past, estate planning has been solely or almost completely concerned about passing a person’s assets at death. It has not been connected to other parts of life and especially not connected to the parts of all our lives that have no monetary value: family history, legacy, values, etc. If the IRS does not value it, we often ignore it in estate planning.

If the IRS does not value it, we often ignore it in estate planning

We need to start thinking about Interconnected Estate Planning to make estate planning more wholistically connected with our lives. Especially in this age of downsizing and decluttering, we need to start thinking about how we plan to transfer our things to our children, families, and friends in a way that transfers not just the title and ownership, but also transfers the “Why” so those people and others will understand the importance and the stories behind those assets. We also can think about making those transfers during life when we have the chance to assure the best stewardship of the items for the future.

You can watch the full episode of Evenings with Artifcts: Modern Estate Planning here.

How do we start Interconnected Estate Planning? Many of us are paralyzed or overwhelmed and do not start estate planning until late in life, or – at worst – when it is too late. Among the negative thoughts I have heard are:

“I’ll just leave this to be handled after I am gone.”
“My children/grandchildren/friends/family all know what I want and they will divide everything fairly.”
“I do not want to make any decisions that might make people mad after I am gone.”
“I don’t want to dwell on my own death.”

In my experience, it is much better to make a plan than to leave the disposition of your estate to chance. Many estate planning attorneys, accountants, insurance professionals, and others who help to manage assets for estates have stories of families broken apart because the person who died was not clear about disposition. There are lawsuits that have dragged on literally for decades where beneficiaries argue about these assets… and not always the most expensive items.

In my experience, it is much better to make a plan than to leave the disposition of your estate to chance

Fortunately, there is a solution. Creating an interconnected plan can start with considering just a few items, and without even going to an attorney. By considering these items, you have the chance to answer the most important question your beneficiaries will have after you are gone: Why? Why are these items important? Why did she save that? Why does it matter?

In one of the episodes of Evening with Artifcts, Jeff Greenwald said, “When you are giving an object away, it motivates you to tell the story. Stories don’t take up much space at all.” So, start with a small list of items you value. Title the list “Personal Property Memorandum” and state at the start that you intend this to be included in your current or any future Will, and date it. Make the list and consider why you think those items are worth giving away, what they mean to you, name the beneficiary, and describe what the item might mean to the beneficiary.

Artifcts can be a great way to start organizing your thoughts. Once you have the items in Artifcts, you could print out the items, and use the printout as part of your Memorandum. With Artifcts, you can also write directly in the "In the Future” field that the object in question is to be given to a particular person.

By considering who should get the items, you can decide whether to wait to give it away now, or make it part of your estate. As you make these decisions, just update your Memorandum (and Artifcts!) at any time.

This is a simple way to pass along items with the most meaning in your life to those who can most benefit.

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Looking for additional tips to help you tackle the estate planning of things? You might also enjoy: