Dividing jewellery between beneficiaries: what to keep, give and sell

01

Start with what the will already gives

Before anyone talks about who would like what, read the will for what it has already decided. Wills that mention jewellery usually do it in one of two ways, and knowing which settles more arguments than any valuation.

A specific gift

A gift of a particular thing, or of a described group of things: my diamond ring to my daughter, my jewellery to my son.

The residue

What is left once the debts, the funeral, the costs of the estate and the gifts of particular things or sums of money are met. Jewellery the will does not mention usually falls into it, and is shared in the proportions the will sets for the residue.

No will

The law decides who inherits, and the administrator shares out the estate under those rules. GOV.UK has a tool that works out who is entitled to a share.

Section 24 of the Wills Act 1837 says a will is read as if it had been made immediately before the death, unless it shows a different intention. So a gift of “my jewellery” generally reaches what the person owned when they died, including pieces bought after the will was signed. It does not reach a ring they gave away years before.

What the words cover is a separate question, and it is where families part company. Is a wristwatch jewellery? Are loose sovereigns in the same box part of it? Does a gift of personal effects include cufflinks? Each turns on the wording of one particular will, so put them to the solicitor in writing before anything is shared out or sold.

02

Whose side the executor is on

GOV.UK describes a personal representative, meaning an executor or an administrator, as legally responsible for the money, property and possessions of the person who died. Section 25 of the Administration of Estates Act 1925 puts it formally: the personal representative collects in the estate and administers it according to law, and produces an inventory and an account when a court requires one.

In plain terms, the executor holds the jewellery box for everyone with a share in it. That is easy to agree with. It is harder to live by when you are also the son or daughter who spent three weekends emptying the house, and a relative far away has firm views about a brooch. The duty does not change with who did the work.

• If you are also a beneficiary, take the most care of all. Choosing first, or taking a piece at a figure you set yourself, is exactly what a brother or sister will question later. Put your own wishes on the same written list as everyone else's.
• If there is more than one executor, decide together. GOV.UK tells personal representatives acting together to agree what assets need to be sold and when. One executor should not sell or hand over what the others have not agreed.
• If you are not the executor, nothing in the house is yours to share out, however close you were. Ask the executor for the list rather than starting your own.
• Keep the record as you go. GOV.UK says the final estate accounts should be approved and signed by the executor and the main beneficiaries. For a jewellery box, that means a list of what was there, who received what at what agreed value, and what was sold.

03

The order to do things in

Many rows over a jewellery box start with the order of events, not the objects. Somebody takes a ring on the day of the funeral. Somebody else posts a bag of broken chain for its gold. A month later nobody can say what was there. Working in this order prevents most of it.

1. List and photograph everything firstEvery piece on a plain cloth in daylight, numbered, with one picture of the whole box as you found it. The probate guide explains why this record protects an executor. It is also the one document every beneficiary can agree describes the same objects.
2. Mark what the will has already givenNote each piece the will leaves to a named person, and each piece caught by a gift of a group, such as my jewellery. Those are not available for anyone else to choose.
3. Set aside anything that may be worth more wholeBefore anything is valued, chosen or sold, pull out the pieces that may be worth more as objects than as metal. Look for a maker's name, an antique piece with a full set of marks, a watch that runs, a coin with a collectable date or mint mark, and any named medal. What to have looked at before you sell shows how to spot each one, and the war medals guide explains why a medal group stays together.
4. Send the list round and ask in writingEvery beneficiary gets the same list and photographs at the same time, and says in writing what, if anything, they would like. Requests made against numbered items are far easier to settle than requests made in a hallway.
5. Agree values only where they are neededA figure is needed for a piece more than one person wants, and for a piece taken as part of a share of the residue. The next two sections cover how to reach one.
6. Sell last, and sell only what nobody wantsSell only after the grant has been issued, or a solicitor has confirmed that none is needed. Hand over specific gifts once the estate's debts and tax are known and there is clearly enough to pay them. Selling everything and dividing the money can be the right answer, but it should be a decision the beneficiaries have agreed, not a default.

04

Sentimental value and money value are different lists

A fair split and an equal split are not always the same. An eternity ring may matter enormously to one daughter and not at all to her brother. A heavy bracelet may be worth a good deal and mean nothing to anybody. Piles that are equal in money often leave someone unhappy, and piles equal in feeling cannot be made.

The usual answer is to keep the two apart: let people have what they care about, then balance the money. Section 41 of the Administration of Estates Act 1925 gives executors a way to do exactly that. It lets a personal representative appropriate part of the estate towards a beneficiary's legacy or share. In plain terms, the ring goes to the daughter as part of her share, at a value fixed for the purpose, instead of being sold.

Where the beneficiary is an adult entitled outright, section 41 requires that person's consent. The personal representative fixes the values, and employs a duly qualified valuer where that is necessary. People often call this taking an item in specie, meaning the thing itself rather than its worth in money.

Four common ways an estate's jewellery is shared out

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Handing a piece over is treated differently from selling it. GOV.UK says the estate does not pay Capital Gains Tax when it transfers assets directly to a beneficiary. What that means for the beneficiary afterwards, and when a sale by the estate may be taxed, is in tax when you sell inherited gold and coins. Ask an accountant about your own case.

05

When the family cannot agree what something is worth

If two beneficiaries want the same piece, or one thinks an agreed figure is too low, the fairest answer is usually an independent valuation. The executor instructs it for the estate, on a basis everyone has been told about beforehand, so the valuer works for the estate and not for whoever wants the piece.

Be clear which kind of figure you are asking for, because several different documents are called a valuation. Valuation, appraisal or offer sets them all out. Three matter when a family is sharing things out.

• A probate valuation should state open market value at the date of death, the basis HMRC's manual says Inheritance Tax requires, and HMRC may ask to confirm it was used. If the estate has one, it is a natural starting point. Values move, though, so where time has passed or a piece is contested, a fresh opinion is fairer.
• An insurance valuation is a replacement figure. HMRC's manual warns that a valuation for insurance purposes may include too high a value. Used as an agreed value, it can charge whoever takes the piece more than it would fetch.
• A buyer's offer, including one from Assaypost, is what one buyer will pay now for what was sent, as it is. Assaypost makes one offer for the whole lot, not a figure for each piece, so it cannot value a single ring within the lot. It is neither independent nor open market value, so it should never be the only figure used to settle a disagreement between beneficiaries.

If a dispute will not settle, stop. Do not sell the piece to end the argument, and do not let it leave the house with one side. Take advice from the solicitor dealing with the estate.

Sometimes everyone agrees the will should be followed differently: the brooch left to one sister should go to the other, or a grandchild should have the watch. GOV.UK says a will can be changed after a death as long as any beneficiaries left worse off agree. The change must be made within two years of the death, the period in which, for tax, it can count as if the will had said it (section 142 of the Inheritance Tax Act 1984). It is called a variation, often a deed of variation.

A variation that leaves a beneficiary under 18 worse off needs the court's approval, and HMRC's manual says a parent's signature on the child's behalf is not enough. Ask the solicitor whether your family's arrangement needs a variation at all.

06

Selling only part of the box

Once the gifts are delivered and the choices made, what is left is usually a mixture: broken chain, odd earrings, a ring nobody wore, a few pieces nobody can place. That part can be sold without selling the rest, in a way that leaves a clear record for the estate. If you use Assaypost, this is how it works, clause by clause from the terms.

• Ask before you post. Send photographs on WhatsApp or through the photo estimate page. The reply is an estimate, an opinion on what can be seen, which binds nobody and commits the estate to nothing (clause 2.1).
• Send what is for sale as one lot. Parcels that arrive on different days are separate lots with separate offers, unless you ask in writing for the first to be held until the second arrives (clause 3.3).
• Everything is listed, and nothing is altered. Every piece goes on the list, and anything that looks worth more whole than as metal is flagged before it is priced. Nothing is melted, cut, polished or taken apart, and no stone is removed, before you accept (clause 4.4). Nothing is acid-tested or cleaned without your written consent (clause 4.2).
• One written offer for the lot, listing every item with its description, its weight and the tests carried out (clause 5.1).
• If someone changes their mind, say which pieces you want back and you get a fresh offer for the rest. It may be lower than the weight removed suggests, and the first offer stays open meanwhile (clause 6.3).
• If a relative may want something back, say so. For a lot from an estate, the whole lot can be posted back at Assaypost's cost while you find out, with no obligation to send it again (clause 10.3).
• Take the time you need, or say no. Ask for longer and the offer is held open, and silence is never taken as acceptance. Decline, and everything comes back by tracked, signed-for post at Assaypost's cost, with nothing deducted (clauses 6.2, 6.3 and 10.2).

Two limits are worth knowing. Assaypost deals with the person who sent the lot, or someone they have authorised in writing, and cannot decide between beneficiaries; if there is a dispute, decline and get everything back. Payment goes by bank transfer, identity is checked before the first payment, and an executor may be asked for the grant or other proof of the right to sell. If the money should go to an executorship account, say so before you post.

Keep the written offer with the estate papers, whether you accept or decline. Beside your own list and photographs, it shows every beneficiary what was sent, how each piece was described, and what was offered for the lot as a whole.

07

Risks when an estate's jewellery is shared out

• Selling before the grant. GOV.UK's advice is not to make any financial plans or put property on the market until you have got probate. The probate guide covers what can safely be done while you wait.
• Selling a piece the will gives to someone. A specific gift is meant to reach the person named. When debts have to be paid from a solvent estate, the Administration of Estates Act 1925 sets an order, which the will can change. Property specifically given comes near the end of it, after the residue. The ring left to a sister is not normally what an executor sells to pay a bill. If you think it has to be, take advice first.
• Handing things out before the debts are known. GOV.UK warns that an executor may have to pay remaining debts and tax personally if the estate is distributed without keeping enough back. Getting a piece back from a relative is much harder than not handing it over yet.
• Pieces that leave before the list is made. They cannot be accounted for, and the argument that follows is rarely about money. Make the list before anybody takes anything, including you.
• Values set by the person taking the piece. Even a fair figure looks self-serving when the person who proposed it is the one who benefits. Use an independent valuer for anything contested.
• An old insurance schedule used as an agreed value. It is usually a replacement figure and can overstate what the piece would fetch, so it may charge the person taking it more than is fair.
• Splitting a set or a group. A pair of earrings, a suite, a medal group or a canteen is usually worth more together than apart. If two people want halves of a set, talk it through before anything is separated.

08

When not to sell any of it yet

Some pieces belong somewhere other than a metal buyer, whatever the family decides. A signed piece, a watch that runs, a coin with a collectable date and some fully marked antiques may do better at auction or with a specialist, and a named medal group belongs with a medal specialist. The probate and estate jewellery page and the inherited jewellery page explain how Assaypost handles an estate once you are ready. A photo estimate gives you an opinion on what you have before anyone decides anything.