When people think about settling a parent’s estate, they usually think about selling the house and distributing what’s in their bank and investment accounts, not about what’s in the basement, the garage, the storage unit, or the boxes tucked in closets under the stairs. But all of that stuff has to go somewhere. Some of it may be valuable. Some may be sentimental. Some may be a tax issue. And some may become an issue between you and your own children, who don’t appreciate the value (sentimental or otherwise) of grandma’s prized Limoges china that really shouldn’t go in the dishwasher.
I know this firsthand. When my dad died suddenly in October of 2025, his estate seemed simple–until we considered his collections and stuff. Like many people, he didn’t set out to be a collector. It just kind of happened. When I went abroad to study, he asked me to bring back a Coca-Cola bottle. In retrospect, he was in the early stages of building a full-blown collection of Coca-Cola bottles, both filled and empty, from nearly every corner of the globe. He didn’t stop at bottles. His collection included a 1,000-piece “Leo’s Bookshop” Coca-Cola branded puzzle, stuffed bears, and historic odds and ends like crates and bottle carriers. By the time Dad died, my brothers’ old bedroom had been turned into what we jokingly referred to as the “Coca Cola shrine.”
Courtesy the Phillips family
We’re not the only family facing this kind of problem. In 2024, 2.3 million Americans aged 65 and above died. Most spent decades accumulating stuff and then aged in place. The Center for Retirement Research projected (based on a longitudinal study of how actual Americans behave) that 53% of retirees will stay until death in the home they lived in in their 50s, with another 17% moving just once, at the time of retirement. Similarly, in a 2024 AARP survey, 75% of adults 50 and older said they wanted to stay in their current homes as they aged.
A whole industry has grown up around helping older adults downsize, relocate and declutter. The National Association of Senior & Specialty Move Managers (NASMM), started in 2022, now has a trade association, a code of ethics, and a certification program. But Jennifer Pickett, the group’s executive director, reports members actually do a lot of their work post-mortem, helping children cope with their parents’ stuff, along with their grief. Pickett claims the average home contains over 300,000 items—a jaw-dropping number she gets by counting every spoon, knife, fork, piece of clothing, photo and document separately.
All this stuff can’t just go to the younger generations. Most middle-aged children already have their own full homes and adult grandchildren often live differently. They may have smaller (or no) homes, less storage, more mobile lives, or simply different tastes. A formal china service can be a hand-wash-only obligation for a grandchild in a small apartment, where they need space for more practical, dishwasher-worthy plates. Heavy brown furniture, like my dad’s overstuffed recliners (he had four), may not fit the space or taste of a younger household.
Here’s a guide to the practical and tax aspects of dealing with your parents’ mounds of stuff. But remember, it often makes sense to bring in professionals— appraisers, estate sale companies, a tax advisor — early, before decisions get made that can’t be undone.
At the bottom, we list 10 steps to make sure you don’t burden your own heirs with so much stuff or set them up for disputes about who gets what.
When You Need Appraisals and Valuations
Do you need an appraisal to find out what something is worth? It depends.
A formal appraisal is not necessary for every sofa, lamp, and box of dishes. It is more important when the item is likely to appear on a tax return. For high-end items, like art, and valuable collections, expect extra scrutiny for tax purposes. (The IRS maintains an Art Appraisal Services and an Art Advisory Panel to review valuations of artwork and other tangible personal property in income, estate, and gift tax matters)
Estates filing a federal estate tax return or a state estate or inheritance tax return may need support for reported asset values. Ditto for charitable donations—a qualified appraisal is required if the claimed deduction for a single item (or group of similar items) exceeds $5,000.
For a Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP)-compliant appraisal — the standard required by the IRS — expect to pay between $150 and $500 per hour, depending on where you live and the appraiser’s specialty. And importantly, appraisal fees should not be based on a percentage of the property’s value. That creates a conflict of interest and can undermine the appraisal for tax purposes.
For hard-to-value items, you (or an appraiser) should start with comparable sales. Documentation can help: A watch with original papers or a coin in a recognized grading holder is easier to value and often easier to sell.
For items without obvious comparables, appraisers rely on auction records and dealer price lists. For collectibles, reference materials include catalogs and specialized hobby periodicals. For items of modest value that don’t justify an appraisal fee, checking eBay’s completed sold listings — not asking prices, but actual sales — can give a reasonable starting point.
Tax Gains and Losses From Collectibles
For estate purposes, the relevant value is often fair market value as of the date of death. That matters because inherited property generally receives a basis equal to its fair market value on the date of death, sometimes referred to as a “stepped up” basis. So if a parent bought a collectible cabinet for $3,000 and it was worth $5,000 when the parent died, the heir’s basis is generally $5,000. If they later sell it for $7,000, the gain is $2,000 ($7,000-$5,000), not $4,000 ($7,000-$3,000). Only the appreciation after the date of death creates taxable gain.
This means that heirs who sell inherited collectibles quickly, at or near current market value, often owe little or no federal capital gains tax. And don’t forget selling costs, which can include auction commissions, dealer fees, listing fees, shipping, insurance, and other costs tied to the disposition. Those generally increase your basis.
But use caution since collectibles have their own capital gains rule. Net long-term capital gains from selling collectibles, such as coins or art, are taxed at a maximum federal rate of 28%. That’s higher than the 15% or 20% long-term capital gains rate many taxpayers associate with stocks and other capital assets.
Capital losses are more complicated. For an individual, losses on personal-use property, such as a car, are not deductible. But an estate is a separate taxpayer. If the estate sells inherited property, a loss may be reportable by the estate on Form 1041 (the estate’s income tax return) if the property was held for sale or investment rather than personal use. However, if a beneficiary receives their dad’s property and then sells it, the IRS may view it as personal-use property unless the facts support another use.
What Charities Will (and Won’t) Take
Rather than take a tax hit, you might consider donating items to get a tax deduction. That can be more challenging than you’d expect.
First, it’s not your intention that matters here—it’s the decedent’s. For an estate to claim an income tax charitable deduction, the gift generally must be made pursuant to the terms of the will or other governing instrument.
If the will leaves “all personal property to my children,” the executor may not be able to donate the property and claim a charitable deduction for the estate simply because no one in the family wants the china cabinet. The beneficiaries might agree to donate items after distribution, but then the deduction, if any, generally belongs to the individual beneficiaries, not the estate. If the will specifically authorizes charitable gifts, directs certain property to go to charity, or gives the fiduciary discretion to distribute property to charity, the analysis may be different.
Assuming you can make a donation, you have to ensure it is actually useful. The IRS allows a current fair-market-value deduction for donated items, but only when the recipient charity uses the item in a way related to its charitable mission. This is called the related-use rule. If you donate a painting to a museum for display, or to a university’s art history department for use in research, the related-use rule may support a fair-market-value deduction. But if you donate it to a children’s hospital for auction at a fundraising gala, the use is likely unrelated, and the deduction may be limited to the item’s basis rather than to the current fair market value.
Setting the tax question aside, even getting a charity to physically take your things is harder than it sounds. Museums, libraries, universities, and historical societies may accept important items, but they are selective because storage, conservation, cataloging, insurance, and staff time cost money. (Read about the successful donation of an 80,000 comic book collection.)
Courtesy the Phillips family
My grandfather, a Navy vet, was part of an expedition to establish Byrd Station in Antarctica, featured in the September 1957 edition of National Geographic. My dad had that issue—and decades more issues—lined up on bookshelves. But the cost of storing decades of magazines means that libraries don’t want them.
Then there’s the Phillips family history my dad spent so much time researching. (As kids, we thought all family holidays involved traipsing out to old battlefields or rubbing gravestones in cemeteries to make out dates of death.) The tens of thousands of pages of photos, death records, military records, and first-person accounts he collected is impressive. But it’s also hard to find a home for it—colleges and other historical societies simply don’t have the resources to take it on. (Even if accepted, a donated item may end up in a museum’s storage cabinet and never see public display — and a museum’s permanent collection is not always permanent, as institutions regularly sell items to fund acquisitions or operations. )
It’s not any easier for household goods. Thrift organizations like Goodwill and the Salvation Army accept a wide range of goods, but not unconditionally: Large furniture, certain appliances, and items in poor condition are frequently declined, and policies vary significantly by location. Pressed-wood furniture and most china sets are unwanted almost everywhere.
The Logistics of Getting Rid Of Stuff
There are a few approaches to dealing with not-so-valuable objects that can’t be donated and that no family members want.
Estate Sale Managers
Using an estate sale or move manager is an increasingly popular option. Typically, the manager will come in, price and stage everything, run a public sale over two or three days, and handle what’s left afterward. Commission fees generally range from 30% to 50% of gross proceeds, with additional fees for post-sale cleanout, trash removal, and advertising. When choosing a company, Pickett recommends that you double-check for insurance (mistakes can happen, and you’ll want to be compensated if your Picasso accidentally ends up in a garage sale) and accreditations. NASMM, for example, requires that member companies complete courses in ethics, safety, liability and risk.
Buyout Liquidators
Working with a buyout liquidator is faster and simpler: Someone comes, assesses everything, writes a single check, and takes it all, typically within days. The price will be well below what an estate sale might generate, but for families who want the house cleared quickly with minimal involvement, the speed can be worth it.
Online Marketplaces
Sites such as eBay, Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist allow patient sellers to find niche buyers. And donation pickups from Goodwill, the Salvation Army, or Habitat for Humanity ReStores handle what can be donated, but as noted earlier, the list of what these organizations actually accept is shorter than most people expect.
After you’ve finished selling online and donating what you can, junk haulers can handle everything else. They don’t typically pay for goods—you pay them.
According to Pickett, items that tend to sell well (be it at estate sales, online, or by other means) include jewelry and watches, coins (typically silver and gold), precious metals, vintage toys, comics, and specific collectibles, such as Civil War artifacts. That tracks with what an estate sales company told us—that my dad’s Civil War-era sword would create interest at a sale. Other categories that sell well include classic cars, fine art, sculpture, rugs, sterling silver, mid-century modern furniture, and sports memorabilia.
What won’t do so well? CDs. Pickett says that buyers typically also don’t want dishes, glassware, or figurines from companies like Lladro or Precious Moments. Other items that are typically passed over include entertainment centers and outdated electronics, as well as the things that you wouldn’t want to buy yourself—like damaged furniture, incomplete sets, used mattresses, and old encyclopedias.
All of this is hard. It’s difficult to sort through a parent’s home and make decisions about thousands of objects while also grieving. Parents who grew up poor, or older ones who lived through the Depression or World War II, may have believed they should never waste anything. My own father was homeless for a while as a teenager and was proud to finally own a house and its contents. That’s why, for some children, throwing almost any of their parents’ things away can feel like a betrayal. But it’s got to be done. “Space has value, too,’’ says Erin Keller, a Wilmington, N.C. Certified Move Manager. An important reminder for beneficiaries, especially for surviving spouses who are downsizing.
10 Steps To Deal With Your Own Stuff
Do you really know what’s in those boxes in the attic, basement or spare room, the ones that have been out of sight and likely out of mind for years? “Knowing what’s in your home is very important,” says move manager Keller. If you don’t know what you have and what it’s worth, it can cost your heirs—in time, money, conflict and guilt. Take inventory and take action now.
1. Make a “what matters” list. Identify items with financial value, family significance, or special instructions. Do not assume your children know which painting is valuable, which ring belonged to Grandma, or which box contains military records.
2. Describe family heirlooms. Write down their story. “Blue Bolesławiec stoneware from your Oma, brought from Poland” is more helpful than “blue vase in cabinet.”
3. Document items of financial value. Anything with meaningful resale value — jewelry, art, antiques, or collectibles — should be appraised, with receipts, photographs, and insurance schedules kept together.
4. Ask children what they really want. The kids may want grandma’s ring, but not her dishes or Hummel figurines, even if they are meaningful to you. Better to know now.
5. Make gifts now. Knowing what your kids treasure, make some gifts now. This avoids later conflict and lightens the estate administrative burden. You can give up to $19,000 in cash or objects to any recipient in a year, without using any of your federal lifetime gift and estate tax exemption. If you split gifts with a spouse, you can give up to $38,000. Plus, if you live in a state with an estate or inheritance tax, gifting could produce real tax savings later.
6. Use a personal property memorandum. If your estate plan allows it, list who should receive specific tangible items that you don’t plan to give away before death. Confirm that the memorandum is properly referenced in your will or trust.
7. Digitize selectively. Scan photos, letters, recipes, and military papers. Keep the originals that matter. Do not leave heirs with unsorted tubs of photographs of people they can’t identify.
8. Sell or donate collections now. Collectors often know the right dealers, auction houses, and buyers. A lifetime sale may produce a better result than a rushed estate liquidation.
9. Stop paying to store low-value items. If the contents of a storage unit would not sell for more than the storage cost, make a plan to donate, sell, or discard.
10. Leave instructions for disposal. Say what should be donated, destroyed, discarded, or handled in a specific way—that gives heirs permission not to feel guilty.
More from Forbes
Read the full article here