Have you spent your life collecting sports memorabilia for your favorite team? Maybe it all started when your parents took you to your first game or gave you a signed jersey from a player who won the Super Bowl. Either way, it brings up the big question: how can you ensure these items go to the right people after you pass away?

With the Super Bowl around the corner, there is no better time to evaluate these assets. We have a couple tips to guide your planning.

Avoid Family Arguments

If you do not include sports memorabilia in your estate plan, your loved ones could end up fighting over your collection.

Sports memorabilia is considered tangible personal property, similar to other physical items like jewelry, dishes, or furniture. An estate plan can deal with this type of asset in a few different ways:

  • Will or Trust: You can designate all tangible personal property to one or more beneficiaries, or specify individual items and who will receive them.
  • Tangible Personal Property Memorandum: This document accompanies a Will or Trust. It will detail how personal belongings should be distributed to beneficiaries. This document is referenced in your Will or Trust, but is kept separate to avoid having to update the Will or Trust for every small change or addition.

Avoid Items Being Discarded

While it is important to choose reliable beneficiaries to take care of your items after you pass away, you can also include fail-safes to ensure all your hard work collecting does not get discarded. 

  • You can dictate that your successor trustee or executor sell the collection, invest the proceeds, and have the proceeds distributed to your loved ones at your death.
  • You can donate the collection to charity, either now or as part of your estate plan.

How are Tickets Different from Other Memorabilia?

Transferring tickets can either be very simple or very complicated, depending on the team’s policies. Season ticket contracts are agreements between you and the sports team, and every team has different rules: 

  • Some contracts might restrict who you can transfer tickets to in your will or prevent you from transferring tickets through probate.
  • Some teams have transfer policies upon death, where the tickets must go to an individual or corporation. 
  • Some teams have a transfer document that a season ticket holder can name a person to transfer the ticket to upon the owner’s death.
  • In cases where a seat license is purchased (common in professional football), the right to buy season tickets every year may be transferable through your will.

Consult the Experts

Estate planning can be complicated, especially with items like sports tickets that involve additional contracts. With the global sports memorabilia market expected to reach $227.2 billion by 2032, it is more important than ever to secure your valuable sports assets.

If you or someone you know is a big sports fan hoping to secure their collection, professional legal guidance can make the process less daunting. Our team at Friedman, Grimes, Meinken & Leischner, PLLC here to help you create a game plan for your estate.