This is an awesome idea and something I think everybody who is in our hobby should think about doing as we grow older. I know from experience that leaving your widow and your heirs an outline of what you would like down with the cars and car parts of your estate will help them out immensely during the grieving process after you have passed. My father passed away, at the age 61, and left my family with his collection of nearly two-hundred cars and thousand's of individual car parts. Luckily for my family, I have a passion for old cars and willingly took on the overwhelming task of identifying, organizing, pricing, and liquidating all of the cars and parts of his estate.
One of the most important pieces of advice my family received was from another widow who's husband was into early Ford's and had passed away a decade earlier. She called us as soon as she found out my father had passed to tell us this.
Quote:
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"You think you're thinking clearly, but you're not. You don't have to make any major decisions right way, take your time. The vultures are coming, you'll find out who your true friends are."
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It is still to this very day the best advice I've ever received about how to handle my father's estate. The important information my father had given to my family before he passed was the small list of individuals who we could trust to talk openly with about liquidating his estate. It was a huge relief to have a handful of people who we talk with and not have to worry about the possibility of them taken advantage of us in our vulnerable state of mind.
It's a harsh thing to say, but the vultures will descend upon your estate once you're gone. We received the first phone call asking about the cars and parts LESS THEN 24 HOURS AFTER MY FATHER HAD PASSED AWAY! Even though the first six months after my father passed are a blur in my mind, the one thing I do remember is how often the phone kept ringing with people asking about the cars and parts. It seemed as if everyone who called "knew my father very well", and every tenth person who called, wanted to tell us "your father promised to sell me this or that certain car or part." Before I get to carried away and write a novel on this subject I'll try to summarize the three main areas to address: Who?, Where? and How? Who can we trust after your gone? Where is everything at? and How would you like everything to be sold off?