Jewellery

[seventiesborn]

My best friends mother has sadly very suddenly passed away. Her mum always said that she would like her to have her jewellery when she passes, but unfortunately never actually put this in writing on the will but had discussed her wishes with her brothers. Now unfortunately the brothers want her to sell the jewellery so they can benefit too. My friend is heartbroken as she dearly wants to keep the jewellery because they have been in the family for a long time and mean alot to her. I’m guessing there isn’t much she can do as she can’t really afford to buy her brothers out.

If they won’t budge then it is what it is. She can refuse. But, is there other money or assets? Get the jewellery valued and then they can take their share of the jeweller out of the other assets before it is split with her. She keeps the jewellery and any money left in he share, they get their share of the money plus the value of their share of the jewellery.

whats the value in total?

She hasn’t had it valued yet but she thinks around £6,000- £8,000

Hmm so she needs to find £4000 in total, minimum which she doesn’t have. If I were her, I’d chose a small item of jewellery for remembrance and negotiate with that. Sell and divide the rest.

Jewellery fetches surprisingly little at auction. I’d get it valued as a starting point. The brothers may not be sitting on the gold mine they imagine.

Indeed. It’ll be valued very low for resale.

If it was £50k or so I'd see their point....but for what is 1-1.5k they are twats

I'd insist they let me pay the difference on the items i wanted...

Eg if item is worth £1k and there are 4 children I'd give my shithead brothers £250 each

And never go out of my way to do them a favour again

Unless its cartier or something she should only be looking at scrap prices NOT insurance to get a value as scrap price is all they would achieve if sold.

That said gold is at a record high so she might be unpleasantly surprised at the valuation. (ie it could be higher if the valuation is very old)

What she really needs is a correct/ current valuation on scrap price and take it from there.

Yes, second hand jewellery isn't always that valuable. And maybe she could afford to buy out one or two items even if she can't all of it.

Is that an insurance valuation? Because those are always much higher than sale price. She need to have it valued for sale price, not for insurance. See what a jeweller would pay her for it.

Is she not due any other money from her mums estate that she can give them in replace of her having the jewellery?

If not and they continue to insist, unfortunately I'd choose a couple of the most special pieces to me and sell the rest if I was her.

Why don’t people give the jewellery away before they die!? Saves all this hassle. I’d get a proper valuation from an auctioneer! You can easily check retail of pre owned jewellery. It will depend on quality. If it’s quantity, each piece might not be worth much. This situation feels very mean.

Have it valued firstly and they might lose interest. If not make them an offer.

Get a probate valuation. I was staggered by how low what I had understood were valuable items were actually valued for probate and the ones that didn’t go to family that were auctioned didn’t even make the probate valuation.