Spousal Shop Concerns

What about donating them to a charity, school, or the American Precision Museum, and having your spouse take a tax writeoff? That way your estate will get full value, and the charity can sell them off if they don't need it.

Tony

That story about your mom and dad reminded me that maybe 40 years ago I was trying to solder a wire joint in some confined spot in the house. I was sitting on the floor with my little Weller benchtop iron in it's stand somewhere behind me.

While keeping my eyes on the wires I was holding in my left hand I stuck my right arm out behind me like a surgeon and in a commanding tone asked my (first) wife to hand me the soldering iron.

You guessed it, she handed me the hot end of the Weller just like she was an operating room nurse, and my hand closed on it. Yowch!

I never found out if she knew soldering irons were hot or not before that happened. But once burned, twice wary, and I've never asked either of my wives to hand me a tool that way again.

Jeff

You guessed it,

Quite a sobering topic, but one that applies to any of us w/o survivors who are interested in our prized possessions. For those of you not concerned about old age, consider how many folks die prematurely. I've had 2 "young" friends die at 48, a day after they were perfectly healthy and enjoying life. Disbursing their shops were among the sadest events of my life. The value of many hobby shops, like mine for instance, is below the value of a relatively new car or suv.

One suggestion was to determine the auction value. That would be helpful, but don't use ebay prices. I've been to several local machine shop auctions -- pennies on the dollar is the rule, no matter how great the equipment's condition. They will also lump things together just to sell a pallet- or table- full. The auctioneer will be done at the end of the day, and sooner if possible.

Someone mentioned offering the items up to a local club. Yes, a couple of folks might pay a "fair" value, but I bet there would be more sharks in the waters than you would imagine.

Selling a shop, even a hobby shop, is very time-consuming for somebody. The money returned would be meager in most instances. Heck, most schools or Adult Ed programs wouldn't touch most of the equipment, it's too old.

Give a lot of thought to what Richard K said, it may be the best way. We have to think about the survivers, spouse, kids, friends, etc. It takes a lot of effort to sell a shop, for little real return.

Alex

Here's an off the wall idea...

Do you know about reverse mortgages? Where you sell your house to the bank and the bank pays you off until you pass on, then they take the house and sell it to recover their money.

If you find the right person, maybe you could sell the shop to somebody now with them to take possession upon your death/disability? This gives you time to work out a good deal and get some money to spend NOW, and still enjoy your tools as long as you can. Ideally the buyer acts as your apprentice too.

You would need to clear it with (or make it clear to) all your heirs, and have a good inventory of what is in the deal, but it could be a great solution for somebody looking to have a great shop without a lifetime of scrounging stuff up. Of course, if you used the money to buy more tools, this could become a real spiral, ending with you having one heck of a nice shop!

That is not a lightweight idea. Seriously, there's a valuable service and you could make something out of it.

-- Ed Huntress

It is an issue - I have it as well..

I almost bought a house that had a level grade basement - house was raised - and it was full of first class wood working tools. The husband, a inventor type that had the money... was killed in a head-on and the wife was moving out of the mountains. It would have been nice, the garage with metal, the big house sized shop for wood. But no, it was a bit to far out for me at the time.

So it does happen - I want to put some signs or notes in the tool boxes - this one for the mill - that one for the lathe.....

Martin

Mart>

Boris A solution used locally on a couple of occasions was for the widow to turn to a couple of model engineering buddies of the deceased husband (who had arranged it with them before hand) and they arranged for the pricing and sale of the tools that were not willed by the deceased already. The husband had made a rough inventory with suggested pricing which he left with the two friends. Items not listed were priced by the friends, who made sure the widow was treated fairly. hope this idea helps Peter M

On Sat, 14 Oct 2006 14:55:03 -0400, with neither quill nor qualm, "Boris Beizer" quickly quoth:

Boris, you might want to call a couple of auction houses and have them give you appraisals, letting them know that you are not ready to sell, you just want the machinery to go to good homes and to free your wife of the task while putting the best price in her pocket when you pass away. Appoint an executor and do a living will if you have kids.

Just make sure to have a list ready for us Wreck.Metalheads, eh? We get first dibs, right?

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I assume that you have already garnered $10k worth of side jobs or other value so, you've already broken even or better. Just a pleasant thought. The trick is to divest while not being in a hurry. For every seat, there's an ass so, one or more people will find and love your stuff, it will be just what they always needed and wanted.

I solved MY home shop problem by selling everything to the family business. I have no thoughts about how to disperse my firearms. Most of my relatives think guns should be destroyed.

We just went thru that when my wife's brother died. Everyone has a limit to how much time they are willing (or able) to invest to maximize money to survivors from stuff like that. The approach we took was:

1. Give relatives a chance to "cherrypick" anything that might be regarded as heirlooms -- Dad's this or that -- that they might enjoy having to use or as a memento (rather than just to sell, unless they buy it from the survivors).
2. If there are some real high-value jewels that you know someone will want, give them a chance at them.
3. Make it known that there's a shop full of stuff, but it's a package deal that will go for the best offer.
4. Can whatever's left.

It may sound callous, but even with this approach it took us months (all winter) to get the place cleaned out and ready for sale. One buyer did us (and himself) a huge favor by loading up a truck and a

12-foot trailer full of stuff for what my wife though was a very fair offer, considering that a LOT of tools, machinery and junk got removed in an afternoon and all we had to do is watch it disappear. If he made a few bucks selling off stuff he didn't personally want, more power to him! This was the same guy that had bought the lathe a week earlier. He wasn't a stranger, we've known him for years.

My Living will so names a number of individuals who will be asked to dispose of my machine tools, firearms and so forth. For maximum Market Value, with a sliding fee scale for a performance bonus. There is a number of names on each list..in the order of preference..and if the first one declines, the second will be asked and so forth down the list.

If all decline..have a yard sale and a wake, including potluck.

Gunner

"A prudent man foresees the difficulties ahead and prepares for them; the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences."

- Proverbs 22:3

Some of my friends have made notes as to who gets what, in the event of their demise. I was given several very expensive or rare firearms in this fashion, and have already picked who I will pass them on to.

Gunner

"A prudent man foresees the difficulties ahead and prepares for them; the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences."

- Proverbs 22:3

Living will? Isn't that just an advance health care directive?

Please give me a week's notice before you croak so I can book a flight and such. Maybe I should drive the van on second thought. If I don't outlive you, I'll give you a head's-up. I'd rather you had my firearms than ANY of my relatives.

Gunner raises his hand......

"A prudent man foresees the difficulties ahead and prepares for them; the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences."

- Proverbs 22:3

in apopulated metropolitan area, outting the entire shop on ebay with a sensible starting price, is probbly the wisest strategy. the widow would get the money with minimum hassle.

i

You have no Idea how much i'd love to learn machining in that manner especially since my city Ottawa Ontario doesnt have a lot of heavy manufacturing or any real manufacturing base. I cant find machine shop courses in school / tech college either either

I am not a metal worker but may I make a suggestion? In your will designate a trusted family member or friend to disperse your shop as he sees fit with the proceeds going to your widow. That way you can be sure that the tools will get top dollar, maybe your designee will be independently wealthy by then amd buy the whole thing. I have done this for my tools. My brother gets all my tools and splits the fair market value with my wife. You might be able to do this as an amendment to your will and not havr to redo the whole thing. Bob

-- Coffee worth staying up for - NY Times

On Sat, 14 Oct 2006 22:57:58 -0500, with neither quill nor qualm, Richard J Kinch quickly quoth:

Not if it deals with assets. AHCDs deal only with your body. Which reminds me that I need to distribute my new one. I wouldn't want some silly hospital hooking my vegetative state body up to machines to keep it alive and continue sucking money out of wherever, wasting family or taxpayer's money needlessly. When this body dies, it remains dead, please. I'll recycle into another one at a later date.

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