The children of Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr. are involved in litigation in Atlanta over control of his bible and his Nobel Prize medal. One group wants them to be sold. Another group wants them donated to Morehouse College. It is sad that this dispute is taking place, especially since their mother, who controlled these items, passed away back in 2006.
A good estate plan should try to anticipate those items of property in your estate that have sentimental value to family members, those items that may have a social or historic value and those items that may have monetary value. The good estate plan should address how to dispose of or distribute those assets. The plan should even set up a mechanism for making determinations of how to proceed, if the beneficiaries of an estate cannot agree on how items of shared property are to be handled or distributed. Merely creating an estate plan that leaves your property to your children in equal shares will not address issues as to how specific property in your estate is to be handled. Merely dividing your estate into equal shares may result in a conflict between your children after you are gone. The primary goal of every estate plan should be to preserve family unity and to avoid estate litigation.

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