[Hallicrafters] Was prices ???? Now Estate

Mon May 2 19:03:04 EDT 2005

I think this misses the point.  It's not how valuable that equipment is to 
me, but rather my estate (kids, whoever) gets the going rate rather than 
having some one take advantage of them.

When my folks passed away, we called in a dealer and had the stuff 
appraised. (after removing what we and the kids wanted to keep)  The one 
appraiser offered a reasonable price with enough room that they could make 
some profit.  That was agreeable to us.

To have concerns about equipment is estate planning is no different that 
doing estate planning in the first place.  Either you care about your heirs, 
or you don't. Either you care about the goverment/probabe taking a chunk or 
you don't. If you do you take care of that ahead of time.  You can not do 
any estate planning and let  them fight over it.  I've seen cases where that 
was what I'd consider a valid approach as they'd been fighting over stuff 
for years.

BUT if a person, and not just a ham with some, or a bunch of old gear, cares 
about where their life's earnings (as that is what is represnented by both 
cash and all they have acumulated) go once they are no longer on the scene, 
then estate planning and trusts are the way to go.

IF, and I emphaize the word "IF" that old collection is quite likely worth 
something and you do not have an estate, or any heirs it reall makes no 
difference what happens to the stuff, but if you do have children and grand 
children and the equipment is worth something, or quite possibly worth quite 
a bit then not planning, or caring what happesns to it is the same as not 
caring about your what your estate does for your heirs.

Most of us think of think of our demise as coming from old age and indeed 
the older you get the poorer your chances of seeing next year or even 
tomorrows sunrise, BUT we seldom think of an untimely demise.  That was 
something that came to mind as I was watching the hood of my transam crumple 
up and the roof of the SUV I had just taken broad side, was disappearing out 
of view overhead at over 50 MPH.

Last week we received a call that one of my wife's younger friends had 
passed away unexpectedly.  She just didn't show up for work.  The first day, 
no one thought much about it, but when she didn't show up the second day 
they send someone to check and found her curled up on the couch where she'd 
been for at least a couple of days. She was in her 40s.

I have no real atachment to the equipment beyond this world, but I do care 
that my estate gets all they can from my toys.  OTOH, other than a couple 
pieces of equipment That are relatively new and worth a fair amount, most of 
the old stuff is probably worth more to some one else.

"Typically", here, someone in the club will take on the capacity of helping 
to evaluate and distribute the estate, but not many take advantage of that 
route.

Roger Halstead (K8RI and ARRL 40 year Life Member)
N833R - World's oldest Debonair CD-2
www.rogerhalstead.com
 (Quoteted text below)

 But you know, when my wife asks me what I am going to do with this stuff,
 etc., etc.  I simply say I don't care, let someone else worry about it!

 If some old equipment is that important to some of you in terms of how you
 acquire it and your estate planning, you better reevaluate your life!!! 
You
 have a problem.

 Van, K7VS
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Todd, KA1KAQ" <ka1kaq at gmail.com>
> To: "Freeberg, Scott (STP)" <Scott.Freeberg at guidant.com>
> Cc: <Hallicrafters at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Monday, May 02, 2005 8:31 AM
> Subject: Re: [Hallicrafters] Was prices ???? Now Estate
>
>
> On 5/2/05, Freeberg, Scott (STP) <Scott.Freeberg at guidant.com> wrote:
>> While I also believe that after I'm dead, I won't care about my radio
> collection, well other than the SW-3 but I'm planning to take that with, I
> don't want the ham radio vultures, thieves, crooks, showing up at the 
> door,
> lying to my widow, trying to rip her off.
>
> Scott and group -
>
> What you've said here is undoubtably a good idea. Charlie also
> mentioned doing an occasional walk-through with a video camera to
> update the list (wonder how many do this?). Unless you have a
> completely static collection of gear, this is an excellent point.
>
> However, keep in mind that values as we know them are representative
> only to us and those like us, at this point in time. Maybe 50 years
> from now they'll be considered evil objects of a bad time in the
> history of our pre-politically correct world or something equally
> ridiculous. More likely, they'll get banned at some point just like
> Spark did. Preserving them in the future will be much more of a
> challenge than we think, especially if you look at the way some
> museums operate now. All the more reason to maintain complete, working
> units that can be studied and demonstrated in the future: to prevent
> them becoming some useless black or gray box with knobs that no one
> can indentify with. If you think this sounds far fetched, randomly ask
> some new hams how to peak and tip a final output stage, and what it
> accomplishes. The future is HERE.
>
> We need to make the lists, keep the records, and update things for
> those around us now as much or moreso than for later. I have three
> friends who are all trustworthy and known to my immediate family who
> would take care of my stuff. I am the same number to them. But if
> you're looking to the future beyond, you need to find someone young
> who will appreciate and take care of this stuff as you do.
> Collections, museums come and go, and each time a few more items fall
> by the wayside.
>
> The vultures who circle out there now are an immediate threat if you
> get taken by a bolt from the blue or the refrigerator explodes. Long
> term preservation is a much different issue, but it shouldn't keep you
> from getting your ducks in a row now.
>
> de Todd/'Boomer'  KA1KAQ
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