Methods of Equitable Distribution Of Estate

re: distribution of the estate of my parents amongst 6 surviving children.

all children have been very cooperative without disharmony. wish to preserve same through the distribution of assets left equally to all children without explicit assignment. total assets less than 600k. liquid assets and real estate are not an issue - proceeds of sale to be equally distributed.

request an reference to the methods used for estate distribution of personal items of emotional and tangible values. 3 ideas have been discussed -- 1) taking turns w/o regards to monetary value, 2) taking turns w/accounting of monetary value, imbalances to be adjusted from liquid assets, 3) auctioning of items between interested family members.

potential conflict being, one child selects a monetarily high value item (dining room set), another selects a emotional valuable item (mother's needle point) without any monetary value. how to make this equitable? each child is using a different set of personal values.

would like to find white papers discussing pros and cons of these methods and any other that are used. looking for the emotionally and monetarily most fair method. all surviving children have expressed the desire to maintain family harmony over acquisition of assets in the estate. would very much like to ensure that that harmony is maintained through the distribution process.

my thanks,
richard

Under the law, each of the children is entitled to an equal share of the estate in dollar value. Since all parties are cooperative, I believe that your second option: “taking turns w/accounting of monetary value, imbalances to be adjusted from liquid assets” is by far the fairest way to consider both the rights of all parties and their desires.

I suggest that before making the division, you all agree that if any two or more want the same item, an arbitrary method, such as tossing coins be used to determine who gets the item. If the same two people both want another item, then the loser of the first item takes the second, etc.

The important thing is to work out a plan that gives each person an equal dollar value and that has mutually agreed upon rules for division of property.

my thanks for the excellent advice. is anyone aware of any discussions or dissertations (pros and cons) on methods of distribution?