Estate Planning Vault

Web Site Aims to Take the Rancor Out of Dividing Up an Estate

Dividing up family heirlooms can be a difficult business. Wills often deal only with financial assets, not personal posessions, and infighting between family members over who gets which personal item can damage relationships for years to come.

Now there is a web site that may help families avoid acrimony and make the process of dividing up posessions in an estate easier. The site, eDivvyup, allows family members (and friends of the deceased) to divide up a loved one's personal estate using an auction plantform similar to eBay's.

The estate's executor gives family members non-monetary points, which they can use to bid on estate items that can be listed and pictured on the site. Bids reflect a family member's desire to own an item. A sister who covets grandmother's Chinese vase will allocate more of her points to that item, making it more likely that her brother will be the winning bidder on the sideboard he would love to put in his dining room. eDivvyup seems particularly well-suited for families that are geographically dispersed, as many are.

"eDivvyup removes much of the sibling emotions and in-fighting, which can occur while deciding who should receive the estate items," says Heath Wheeler, the company's vice president of sales and marketing.

The cost of the service is $49 to list 50 items. Additional item listings can be purchased as needed.

To find out more about eDivvyup, go to: www.eDivvyup.com