Admittedly, thats an exaggeration. But its not far off, due to changing tastes and homes. Ill explain why, and what you can do as a result, shortly. The Stuff of Nightmares. So please forgive the morbidity, but if youre lucky enough to still have one or more parents or stepparents alive, it would be wise to start figuring out what youll do with their furniture, china, crystal, flatware, jewelry, artwork and tchotchkes when the mournful time comes. I wish I had. My sister and I, forced to act quickly to avoid owing an extra months rent on dads apartment, hired a hauler to cart away nearly everything we didnt want or wouldnt be donating, some of which he said hed give to charity. Many boomers and Gen Xers charged with disposing the family heirlooms, it seems, are unprepared for the reality and unwilling to face it. Theyre not picking out formal china patterns anymore. I have three sons. They dont want anything of mine. I totally get it. Susan Devaney, The Mavins GroupIts the biggest challenge our members have and its getting worse, says Mary Kay Buysse, executive director of the National Association of Senior Move Managers NASMM. At least a half dozen times a year, families come to me and say What do we do with all this stuff says financial adviser Holly Kylen of Kylen Financials in Lititz, Pa. The answer lots of luck. Heirloom Today, Foregone Tomorrow. Dining room tables and chairs, end tables and armoires brown pieces have become furniture non grata. Antiques are antiquated. Old mahogany stuff from my great aunts house is basically worthless, says Chris Fultz, co owner of Nova Liquidation, in Luray, Va. On PBSs Antiques Roadshow, prices for certain types of period furniture have dropped so much that some episode reruns note current, lower estimated appraisals. And if youre thinking your grown children will gladly accept your parents items, if only for sentimental reasons, youre likely in for an unpleasant surprise. Young couples starting out dont want the same things people used to have, says Susan Devaney, president of NASMM and owner of The Mavins Group, a senior move manager in Westfield, N. J. Theyre not picking out formal china patterns anymore. I have three sons. They dont want anything of mine. I totally get it. The Ikea Generation. Buysse agrees. This is an Ikea and Target generation. They live minimally, much more so than the boomers. They dont have the emotional connection to things that earlier generations did, she notes. And theyre more mobile. So they dont want a lot of heavy stuff dragging down a move across country for a new opportunity. And you can pretty much forget about interesting your grown kids in the books that lined their grandparents shelves for decades. If youre lucky, you might find buyers for some books by throwing a garage sale or you could offer to donate them to your public library if the books are in good condition. Most antiques dealers if you can even find one and auction houses have little appetite for your parents stuff, either. Thats because their customers generally arent interested. Carol Eppel, an antique dealer and director of the Minnesota Antiques Dealers Association in Stillwater, Minn., says her customers are far more intrigued by Fisher Price toy people and Arbys glasses with cartoon figures than sideboards and credenzas. Even charities like Salvation Army and Goodwill frequently reject donations of home furnishings, I can sadly say from personal experience. Midcentury, Yes Depression Era, No. A few kinds of home furnishings and possessions can still attract interest from buyers and collectors, though. For instance, Midcentury Modern furniture think Eames chairs and Knoll tables is pretty trendy. And very high end pieces of furniture, good jewelry, good artwork and good Oriental rugs I can generally help find a buyer for those, says Eppel. The problem most of us have, Eppel adds, is our parents bought things that were mass produced. They dont hold value and are so out of style. I dont think youll ever find a good place to liquidate them. Getting Liquid With a Liquidator. Unless, that is, you find a business like Nova Liquidation, which calls itself the fastest way to cash in and clean out your estate in the metropolitan areas of Washington, D. C. and Charlottesville and Richmond, Va. Rather than holding an estate sale, Nova performs a buyout someone from the firm shows up, makes an assessment, writes a check and takes everything away including the trash, generally within two days. If a client has a spectacular piece of art, Fultz says, his company brokers it through an auction house. Otherwise, Nova takes to its retail shop anything the company thinks it can sell and discounts the price continuously perhaps down to 7. Nova also donates some items. Another possibility Hiring a senior move manager even if the job isnt exactly a move. In a Next Avenue article about these pros, Leah Ingram said most NASMM members charge an hourly rate 4. Other senior move managers specializing in selling items at estate sales get paid through sales commissions of 3. Most of the people in our business do a free consultation so we can see what services are needed, says Devaney. Tips for Home Unfurnishing. What else can you do to avoid finding yourself forlorn in your late parents home, broken up about the breakfront thats going beggingSome suggestions 1. Start mobilizing while your parents are around. Every single person, if their parents are still alive, needs to go back and collect the stories of their stuff, says Kylen. That will help sell the stuff. Or it might help you decide to hold onto it. One of Kylens clients inherited a set of beautiful gold trimmed teacups, saucers and plates. Her mother had told her shed received them as a gift from the Du. Ponts because she had nursed for the legendary wealthy family. Turns out, the plates were made for the Du. Ponts. The client decided to keep them due to the fantastic story. Give yourself plenty of time to find takers, if you can. We tell people The longer you have to sell something, the more money youre going to make, says Fultz. Of course, this could mean cluttering up your basement, attic or living room with tables, lamps and the like until you finally locate interested parties. Do an online search to see whether theres a market for your parents art, furniture, china or crystal. If there is, see if an auction house might be interested in trying to sell things for you on consignment. Its a little bit of a wing and a prayer, says Buysse. Thats true. But you might get lucky. I did. My sister and I were pleasantly surprised no, flabbergasted when the auctioneer we hired sold our parents enormous, turn of the 2. Florida art dealer for a tidy sum. We expected to get a dim sum, if anything. Apparently, the Newcomb Macklin frame was part of the attraction. Go figure. Our parents tabletop marble bust went bust at the auction, however, and now sits in my den, owing to the kindness of my wife. Get the jewelry appraised. Its possible that a necklace, ring or brooch has value and could be sold. Look for a nearby consignment shop that might take some items. Or, perhaps, a liquidation firm. See if someone locally could use what you inherited. My dad had some tools that looked interesting. I live in Amish country and a farmer gave me 2. Kylen. She also picked out five shelters and gave them a list of all the kitchen items she wound up with. By the fifth one, everything was gone. That kind of thing makes your heart feel good, Kylen says. Download the free Rightsizing and Relocation Guide from the National Association of Senior Move Managers. Right to property Wikipedia. The right to property or right to own property cf. A general recognition of a right to private property is found more rarely, and is typically heavily constrained insofar as property is owned by legal persons i. A right to property is recognised in Article 1. Universal Declaration of Human Rights but is not recognised in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights or the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The European Convention on Human Rights, in Protocol 1, article 1 acknowledges a right for natural and legal persons to peaceful enjoyment of his possessions, subject to the general interest or to secure the payment of taxes. DefinitioneditThe right to property is one of the most controversial human rights, both in terms of its existence and interpretation. The controversy about the definition of the right meant that it was not included in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights or the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Controversy centres upon who is deemed to have property rights protected e. In all human rights instruments, either implicit or express restrictions exist on the extent to which property is protected. Article 1. 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights UDHR enshrines the right to property as follows 1 Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property4The object of the right to property as it is usually understood nowadays, consists of property already owned or possessed, or of property acquired or to be acquired by a person through lawful means. Not in opposition but in contrast to this, some proposals also defend a universal right to private property, in the sense of a right of every person to effectively receive a certain amount of property, grounded in a claim to Earths natural resources or other theories of justice. After failed attempts to include the right to protection of property in the European Convention on Human Rights ECHR European states enshrined the right to protection of property in Article 1 of Protocol I to the ECHR as the right to peaceful enjoyment of possessions,6 where the right to protection of property is defined as 1 Every natural or legal person is entitled to the peaceful enjoyment of his possessions. No one shall be deprived of his possessions except in the public interest and subject to the conditions provided for by law and by the general principles of international law. The preceding provisions shall not, however, in any way impair the right of a State to enforce such laws as it deems necessary to control the use of property in accordance with the general interest or to secure the payment of taxes or other contributions or penalties. Therefore, European human rights law recognises the right to peaceful enjoyment of property, makes deprivation of possessions subject to certain conditions, and recognises that States can balance the right to peaceful possession of property against the public interest. The European Court of Human Rights has interpreted possessions to include not only tangible property, but also economic interests, contractual agreements with economic value, compensation claims against the state and public law related claims such as pensions. The European Court of Human Rights has held that the right to property is not absolute and states have a wide degree of discretion to limit the rights. As such the right to property is regarded as a more flexible right than other human rights. States degree of discretion is defined in Handyside v. United Kingdom, heard by the European Court of Human Rights in 1. Notable cases where the European Court of Human Rights has found the right to property having been violated include Sporrong and Lonnroth v. Sweden, heard in 1. Swedish law kept property under the threat of expropriation for an extended period of time. The highest economic compensation, following a judgment of the Strasbourg Court on this matter, was given 1,3 million euro in case Beyeler v. Italy. 9Latin AmericaeditWhen the text of the UDHR was negotiated Latin American states argued that the right to property should be limited to the protection of private property necessary for subsistence. Their suggestion was opposed, but was enshrined in the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, which was negotiated at the same time and adopted one year before the UDHR in 1. Article 2. 3 of the declaration states that Every Person has the right to own such private property as meets the essential needs of decent living and helps to maintain the dignity of the individual and of the home. The definition of the right to property is heavily influenced by Western concepts of property rights, but because property rights vary considerably in different legal systems it has not been possible to establish international standards on property rights. The regional human rights instruments of Europe, Africa and the Americas recognise the right to protection of property to varying degrees. The American Convention on Human Rights ACHR recognises the right to protection of property, including the right to just compensation. The ACHR also prohibits usury and other exploitation, which is unique amongst human rights instruments. Article 2. 1 of the ACHR states that 1 Everyone has the right to the use and enjoyment of his property. The law may subordinate such use and enjoyment to the interest of society. No one shall be deprived of his property except upon payment of just compensation, for reasons of public utility or social interest, and in the cases and according to the forms established by law. Usury and any other form of exploitation of man by man shall be prohibited by law. The African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights ACHPR protects the right to property most explicitly in Article 1. The right to property shall be guaranteed. It may only be encroached upon in the interest of public need or in the general interest of the community and in accordance with the provisions of appropriate laws. Property rights are furthermore recognised in Article 1. The Perfect World Of Kai Theater Movie. ACHPR, which states that every citizen has the right to participate freely in the government of his country, the right to equal access to public services, and the right of access to public property and services in strict equality of all persons before the law. Article 2. 1 of the ACHPR recognises the right of all peoples to freely dispose of their wealth and natural resources, and that this right shall be exercised in the exclusive interest of the people, who may not be deprived of this right. Article 2. 1 also provides that in case of spoliation the dispossessed people shall have the right to the lawful recovery of its property as well as to adequate compensation. International conventionseditProperty rights are also recognised in the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination which states in Article 5 that everyone has the right to equality before the law without distinction as to race, colour and national or ethnic origin, including the right to own property alone as well as in association with others and the right to inherit. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women recognises the property rights in Article 1. Article 1. 5, which establishes womens right to conclude contracts. Property rights are also enshrined in the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. These international human rights instruments for minorities do not establish a separate right to property, but prohibit discrimination in relation to property rights where such rights are guaranteed.