Tangible Estate Inventory Back to Case Studies

Betty Hunt was a genuine grand dame of Hollywood, and lived a long life filled with memories and memorabilia. When she succumbed to ovarian cancer at age 83, she had no immediate family to handle her affairs. She was unmarried, had no children, and was the only child of a small family.

The niece of Betty's deceased best friend and lover, Beau, was entrusted to act as her executor.

That person is Diana Jillie, whose experience in estate settlement from the sudden passing of her husband Don in 1994 made her well qualified for the job.

Among the duties Ms. Jillie had was inventorying Betty’s assets to determine the value of her estate.

In addition to Betty’s investments, she and Beau lived in an apartment for over 30 years. It was packed full of belongings: furnishings, electronics, jewelry, silver, china, American Indian rugs, and turquoise. Ms. Jillie and her team organized, photographed, and obtained appraisals of these items before their disposition. This inventory was assembled in a special book to document value and facilitate decision making.

The result was an orderly and fully documented disposition of estate assets in a reasonable time.