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A friend of mine told me this story.
After her mother died, a battle ensued over who would get what. Once the will was read and all the items were given to the correct people there were lots of things left. Of course, each child had a different view on how to handle the things left. One wanted this another wanted it also, and therefore a battle began.
An aunt stepped in and said "lets do something different to stop the arguing."
She went and purchased several packs of play money from a toy store. Then she numbered all of the items left and gathered the children of the deceased together.
She distributed the play money equally between the biological children, and their respective families. Each in-law child got the same amount and each child got the same amount. Each grandchild that was old enough to know what was going on got a certain amount. Each grandchild that was not old enough to understand was appointed a person who was impartial to bid for them. that person was given the same amount as the grandchildren who understood. The impartial person would recieve permission from the childs parent to bid if the child was partial to a certain item of the grandmothers or had given the grandmother the item.
They arranged a day, set up boxes with the biological childs name on it, and held an auction, with another aunt or uncle or impartial party holding the position of auctioneer.
The day went smoothly and everyone walked away from a sticky situation without having hurt feelings or bad feelings toward their siblings.
I thought this was a terrific way to handle a sticky situation.
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