Page 6 - Jupiter West - April '25

Page 6, Jupiter West
Estate Planning For Collectors And Hobbyists

By Anné Desormier- certificates of authenticity, provenance (ownership history), casually discussed your plans with family, but absent a formal
Cartwright, JD, Esq. conditions, insurance information, care instructions, and estate plan, there is no guarantee it will come to fruition.
Americans often prefer other documentation that can help an estate executor or Remember that you can get creative with your estate
to stay busy. When we are trustee manage and distribute them. Have physical and digital plan. Although you may never get to display your artwork at
not working, many of us copies of your inventory and related documents stored in safe a museum, for instance, you could arrange to have a private
turn to hobbies to keep us locations (e.g., a safe deposit box or encrypted cloud storage) viewing of your art or collectibles for friends and family in
engaged and productive. that you have ensured key loved ones can access after your addition to, or instead of, a traditional funeral or celebration
We spend hours each day passing. Review and update your inventory regularly. A good of life arrangement.
on our hobbies and leisure time to do so is when you update your estate plan every few Celebrate your life’s work however you want—just make
activities. Over the course of years or when significant changes occur in your or your sure to plan ahead and get everything in writing.
a lifetime, this time adds up family’s life, or to your financial situation or your collection. A Serious Passion Deserves Serious Planning
to a significant investment. • Get a professional appraisal. Obtain professional The things we create and collect form a core part of our
Our hobbies, passion projects, and pursuits may also appraisals to find out the current market value of what you own, identity. They mark our existence long after we are gone. You
represent large investments of money, resources, and emotions. including the final product and the equipment and raw materials cannot take it with you. However, you can make it a part of
Therefore, they should often be included in an estate plan. used to make it. For example, if you have a shop where you make your legacy with an estate plan.
Whether you are a collector of classic cars or comic furniture, get the furniture and the woodworking machinery Only a written estate plan makes your wishes legally
books, an artist or craftsperson with a studio full of valuable appraised. Hobbyists might have vintage or rare supplies and binding. Do not be the person whose family finds a valuable
equipment, a musician who owns prized instruments, or materials, such as reclaimed wood, which can also be valuable. collection in a dusty corner of the attic and does not know what
someone who never outgrew their vintage toys and board • Talk to your family. A common estate planning mistake is to do with it, fights over who should receive what, or overlooks
games, estate planning helps to preserve your cherished items to put everything in writing but never discuss your plans with its importance and throws it away or donates it.
and make them part of your legacy. the people who will be affected by them. For example, your You put serious time into your hobby or collection. Keep
Hobbies Growing In Importance To Americans loved ones might be aware that you wrote in your spare time the passion alive and inspire the next generation with an estate
We define ourselves largely by how we spend our time. For or have a large book collection, but do they appreciate how plan that gives your life’s work the treatment it deserves. Talk
many Americans, wasted time amounts to wasted potential. much these works mean to you? Do they know what inspired to one of our estate planning attorneys today.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2023 your love of the written word, your personal journey with If you have questions about your estate plan and what
Time Use Survey, Americans spend about five hours a day on it, and how it helped to define you? Unless you share these documents you should have in place to plan your estate, schedule
leisure activities and hobbies. Another survey of Americans details with others, the things that were the most personally a free consultation today by calling our office at (561) 694-7827,
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taken during the COVID-19 pandemic found that 6 in 10 had meaningful to you might be regarded by your loved ones as Anné Desormier-Cartwright, Esq., Elder and Estate Planning
adopted a new hobby as they were left with more spare time just more stuff they must go through when you die. Attorneys PA, 480 Maplewood Drive, Suite 3, Jupiter, FL 33458.
and nowhere to go. Common new hobbies ranged from baking • Decide how to distribute. Do you want to give what you The content of this article is general and should not be
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or cooking to reading, arts and crafts, and photography. have in its entirety to a single person, divide it among multiple relied upon without review of your specific circumstances
While some of our pandemic pastimes have already fallen loved ones, donate it to charity, or sell it, or do you prefer some by competent legal counsel. Reliance on the information
by the wayside, others are likely to persist because there is an combination of these options? Your decision will be based on herein is at your own risk, as it expresses no opinion by
inherent payoff when we gain new knowledge or learn a new the items themselves and whether there is anybody who might the firm on your specific circumstances or legal needs.
skill and continue to improve at it. want them. A family member or friend with the same interests An attorney client relationship is not created through the
That payoff may be more than just the personal satisfaction might be a good fit. A loved one who does not want them might information provided herein.
of mastering a skill. Nearly half of those who took up a new end up selling them anyway, so you can sell them now, make To comply with the U.S. Treasury regulations, we must
pandemic hobby turned it into a side hustle that earned them plans for your estate or a dealer to sell them and distribute inform you that (i) any U.S. federal tax advice contained in
extra money. And an additional one-quarter of those with new the proceeds following your death, or make a lifetime gift (or this newsletter was not intended or written to be used, and
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hobbies said they hoped to turn their new hobby into a form series of gifts). cannot be used, by any person for the purpose of avoiding
of income in the future. 4 • Put your wishes in an estate plan. All your conversations, U.S. federal tax penalties that may be imposed on such person
When Passion Turns Profitable preparations, and evaluations could be for naught if you do and (ii) each taxpayer should seek advice from their tax
Happiness may be priceless, but many of the things that not clearly and legally describe your wishes in an estate plan. advisor based on the taxpayer’s particular circumstances.
make us happy have a price tag attached to them. Suppose that you have your treasured comic book collection
Maybe you did not start a hobby or collection to make professionally appraised and documented. You have this 1 American Time Use Survey News Release, U.S. Bureau
money. Tales abound about boyhood baseball card collections information stored in a locked box, and you regularly update of Labor Statistics (June 27, 2024), https://www.bls.gov/
and antiquing finds that turned out to be worth millions of it. There is only one problem: you never formally documented
dollars. Coins, comic books, stamps, books, toys, action your plan for your collection in a will or trust. You may have Estate Planning on page 7
figures, records, cars, dolls, furniture, and even vintage
bakeware have commanded impressive prices that, in some
cases, belie their appearance and original purpose.
Other hobbyists and collectors approach their passion
with pecuniary interests squarely in mind. Collecting sports
memorabilia, for example, has exploded into a billion-dollar
industry akin to the fine-art market. In 2023, the collectibles
market as a whole, driven by online marketplaces and digital
auctions, was estimated at nearly $500 billion and growing. 5
For others, a private passion can turn into a life’s work, like
it did for Jim Irsay, the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts owner, or Joel
Platt, a renowned sports memorabilia collector. These men have
gone to great lengths to preserve their collections for posterity.
Irsay takes his diverse collections of historic artifacts, featuring
items from sports, pop culture, literature, and American history, 747-PALM
on the road and shows them off for free. Platt’s collection is
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currently housed in a showcase museum in Boca Raton, Florida. 7 747-7256
Like collectors, many of the most famous artists started out
pursuing a passion they never expected to get rich from, only
to have their works later sold for a small fortune.
While he was alive, Vincent van Gogh sold a single painting “Service is our number one priority”
in 1890 for a meager 400 francs, or about $2,670 in today’s
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U.S. dollars. In 1990, one of his paintings sold for $83 million 561-743-0070
at auction.
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Then there’s fashion icon Coco Chanel, whose inspiration
to design clothes for women out of practical necessity launched www.palmspoolservices.com
one of the world’s best-known clothing brands. Her first fashion
success came from a dress she made from an old jersey.
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Today, the Chanel brand is valued at around $20 billion. 11
Protecting And Preserving Your Passion
Most of us may not reach the heights of Van Gogh, Irsay,
Platt, or Chanel in our hobbyist or artistic pursuits. However,
that does not mean our passions are without value and that
we should not take steps to ensure our sweat equity is an
investment in our legacy.
Estate planning is essential not only for financial and family
considerations but also for those with serious, lifelong projects.
The things that define you in life can continue to define you in
death when you plan properly. Here are some steps you can
take now so that your loved ones know exactly what to do with Expires 5/15/25.
the things that matter most to you.
• Inventory and document. Start by creating a detailed State Licensed & Insured CPC #
inventory of the items in your collection or related to your Serving Palm Beach County 1457468 • LPG#30099
hobby. The inventory should include descriptions, photographs,