My mom has been distributing her stuff for a few years now. And honestly, there’s nothing of hers that I really want - not even jewelry. But I wouldn’t mind having her car, should it still be running. She gave me a diamond ring but she knows I’ll be giving it to my granddaughter whose birthstone it is. After she dies, I may ask for a few specific items for my daughter, and maybe I’ll take the afghan I made for her ages ago that she’s always liked. I’ll let my brother, the executor, deal with it all.
That’s what my 3 sisters and I did WRT their household possessions. (They didn’t have any cars, fine art, or crazy expensive jewelry, and all 4 of us were doing fine.) They’d already moved out of their house into a 2 bedroom, so we’d been hauling away tonnage already. After they died we picked numbers 1-4, and kept going 1-4 and then 4-1 until no one wanted anything else. I don’t think any of us really wanted the exact same things. Even if you did, you were guaranteed to get at least your 4th and 5th favorite.
Hell - how much of your parents’ stuff do you really want?
Not much. The exception being my father’s collection of NW and Alaskan Native art. He had some nice pieces, that we now enjoy in our home.
We ended up with most of it, as my siblings weren’t interested having it.
As I described above, my 3 sibs and I each picked one thing that we wanted, and fortunately there were no overlaps. And I think that’s all any of us wanted.
Ahhh, never mind, ninja’ed again.
My son wants my 1900 dentist chair with fully functional hydraulics. He’s made that known and it’s become a joke with us.
Not with either of my parents. One died intestate, so it was just my sister and I. The other had a will, and the children were heirs, so I (executor) just let them know and sent them copies.
There was something remotely similar to the TV/Movie version with one of my aunts. She was widowed with no children, so presumably her surviving siblings/nieces/nephews would inherit here estate, so my father, her executor, who had not read the will in advance, gathered as many of the surviving siblings/nieces/nephews together to open it and read it. (Just in case you’re curious, her stuff was to be sold at auction, and the proceeds divided evenly among her surviving siblings.)
Once a will is submitted to the county clerk for probate, it becomes a public record, and anyone that requests a copy can see it.