Page 24 - Senior Times South Central Michigan - August 2019 - 26-08

Page 24 Senior Times - August 2019
SWEATING THE SMALL STUFF
By: Doug Chalgian, Elder Law Attorney
Clients sometimes get confused about the way lawyers use the word “property.” In the legal community, the word “property” has
a very broad meaning. It means anything a person or entity could own. Different types of property are then classified with different labels. For example, the term “real property” is used to mean land and things affixed to the land. “Intellectual property” refers to things like trademarks and patents. Bank accounts and investments are referred to as “intangible personal property.”
Lawyers use the term “tangible personal property” to refer to what you might call your “stuff.” This would include things like: clothing, jewelry, furniture, collections, guns, and art. When people die, a disproportionate number of disputes arise in relation to items of tangible personal property. There are several reasons that this is true, and several things people should think about when they do their estate planning that may help avoid some of these conflicts.
simply a matter of possession.
When someone dies, unless the item is found among their possessions, proving that they owned this chair or those golf clubs is not always easy. And when someone claims an item of tangible personal property is miss- ing from the deceased person’s belongings,
it is often difficult or impossible to prove whether it was taken, by whom, and when.
Lack of Inventory
Determining Ownership
• Most types of property have some form of official registered ownership – or “title.”
• Real estate titles are expressed in the form
of deeds and are usually recorded at the
In addition, even when items of tan- gible personal property are found among the belongings of the deceased individual, arguments about ownership can arise where another person claims that a particular item was not really owned by the decedent, but was merely being loaned to them or being stored in their home or garage. Or they may claim that the deceased person “gifted” it to them while they were alive.
county Register of Deeds office.
• Bank accounts and retirement accounts
have ownership forms on file with the insti- tutions that hold those assets. And the name of the owner of these types of assets will appear on the statements issued by those institutions.
The same is true with other types of tan- gible personal property. Maybe the decedent simply sold or gave away the antique clock, his war medals, or the fancy glassware his
• But most types of tangible personal proper- ty have no form of title. Rather, for tangible personal property, ownership is often
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Lack of Formal Title
Most people do not keep track of the tangible personal property they own at any given time. A baseball card collector, for instance, may buy and sell cards on a regular basis. In fact, buying, selling and swapping cards is what they enjoy about the hobby. So, while family members may all remember the decedent having proudly shown off a Ty Cobb baseball card on many occasions, if that card is missing when that person dies, unless the deceased person kept a record of his/her transactions, there is no way to prove the card was taken, as opposed to swapped with someone at an intervening baseball card convention.
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