Might seem a random (& morbid) question, for those who have made a will, who have you left your much loved gear to?
I haven’t made my will yet but really need to now I’ve turned 60.
Things to consider, would the beneficiary know how to set it up? Do they know the difference between a pre- and power-amp? Would they bother anyway or just sell it on?
My other half hasn’t much of a clue what any of the boxes are for (despite my many coaching attempts over the years). I doubt my brother would know how to connect anything either.
We have no children, so my wife will have the final say… I’ll leave instruction for her to contact my dealer and be advised by them…I don’t think she’d keep what we have now but she may like a smaller simpler system (although she thinks the 252\300 sounds great, so who knows…). It’s not the Naim stuff but the LP12 I think she’ll balk at*.
But…it’s only stuff…one more level of stuff she’ll have to deal with when I die ( the books, the records, the telescope, the watches, the fountain pens, the MTB… the suits, the shoes - call me Imelda - the sheer accumulations of a life lived).
Thank god I never had cars!
*Or maybe she’ll sell the lot…and listen to Gold FM.
Assuming you don’t have appreciative youngsters who would squabble over it, I’d suggest you should offer some advice to the executors/beneficiaries in terms of potential future value.
There’d be nothing (ok possibly other worse things) for the estate than executors completely undervaluing the cost of the equipment you’ve spent good money on and cherished if it was not disposed of to appreciative immediate family or sold on for realistic returns.
I’ve often thought about this. And it has changed how I build the system.
My wife is comfortable using the streamer and all that. But the ripping of discs on the computer or the running a micro PC with Audirvana in the second system (and the occasional reboots and problems caused by WIndows Update) are all beyond her. And I don’t have any idea if my Kids will be savvy in such things. Let alone the NAS in the server rack.
It is this this very thinking that has led me to conclude:
Boxes to handle ripping and storage like the Uniti Core are worth every penny.
Boxes likes a Lumin or Auralic to handle streaming transport or a full streamer like an NDX, are also worth every penny.
Ultimately, it is important that I leave my wife with something she has a hope in hell of using. She’s not an idiot but this stuff is not her thing and given the manuals and 10 years of free time, I still think the first hiccup on the NAS or with Audirvana and the system would become the worlds largest paperweight.
My long time Naim dealer will fly out, pack it up and put it on skids. He will then have it freighted back to his store to sell.
Proceeds will go into my Trust via PayPal.
If I’m not here to use the remaining kit, he will take the rest of it, mostly Ansuz items.
My wife already said she’s going to sell all my stuff in a garage sale for 1% of whatever I paid. One of the many reasons I’ve left all my tangibles to my kids, nieces, and nephews. Unfortunately without a prenuptial agreement the will is mostly a suggestion
14,000 CDs in the collection and my son said to me the other day ‘Dad before you go I want you to get rid of all this stuff because I don’t want to have to sort it all out’!
The way we’re fused together, we’re most likely to simply take it with us. The kids argue if Bose or Sonos is the better system, so they’re not likely to have a say in it - at all.
Eldest daughter slightly surprised me by saying she wanted first dibs on it when I move on. Must remember to give her the contact details for my dealer so she has someone to ask for advice if needed, or even to sell it on if she wants. As long as it ends up with someone who appreciates it and gets pleasure from it, I’ll be happy.
This must be a problem in any niche interest area - classic cars, model railways, stamp collecting, whatever - and there are probably many stories of hugely valuable collections being sold on for buttons by the recently widowed who don’t really know what it is.
What do you mean? To the best of my awareness, at least in UK a will is legally binding so if someone wills stuff to children the children then own it and one’s widow could be sued for disposing of it. Of course, if the children are young they will be unaware, so their mother or step-mother, whatever her relationship, can do anything with their belongings if she has access.
Property acquired during a marriage belongs to both partners with a few exceptions. Even though I bought the hifi my wife is legally a 50% owner. You can’t give away property that 100% belongs to your spouse after your death. Of course you can express your wishes in your will but it’s not legally enforceable.
I think it’s the prenuptial agreement that’s on shaky ground in the UK. A well written will is pretty much cast iron. The will cannot overide UK law though so a spouse will always be the beneficiary - unless you both die at the same time.
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