Many parents wish to bequeath their assets to their children in equal shares, yet they don’t consider that a plethora of valuable assets would become worthless if equally divided. How do you dispose of a painting, a family heirloom, or a diamond ring when a parent with multiple children owns one of each item? Estate planning documents must be drafted to avoid beneficiaries fighting about who should be the rightful owner of such assets.

The Bible, unsurprisingly, tells of one of the most famous feuds between two people over something that cannot be divided. In the Book of Kings, two women argued before King Solomon that the same newborn son belonged to her. To resolve the dispute, the king declared, “[c]ut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other.” 1 Kings 3:25.

In fact, the king’s horrific order constituted a test to determine the identity of the baby’s real mother.[*] However, in our modern world without monarchs and with a backlogged judicial system, legal documents must provide clarity regarding the distribution of assets that cannot be equally divided.

What are the options? There is not a one-size-fits-all answer, but there are a handful of good solutions:

• Decide for your beneficiaries. When there are assets that cannot be divided in kind—such as jewelry, art, antiques, and family heirlooms—designate a beneficiary for each item. If this results in an economic disparity that is bothersome, make equalizing cash bequests to close the gap.
• Let the beneficiaries take turns picking items on an alternating basis (i.e., a “round-robin selection”). This works best when there are a number of valuable items. Names can be drawn from a hat to decide the order of selection, and the beneficiaries take turns selecting items.
• Tell the beneficiaries to figure out the selection on their own, but any item they cannot agree on gets sold and the proceeds split among them. The downside of this approach is that items of sentimental value may end up being traded for cash.
• Nominate someone to make the decision. This individual can divvy up all tangible items, or alternatively, can be the decision maker in a dispute over a specific item. Of course, to be fair, it is best to pick a neutral person for this role (i.e., someone who cannot take the asset for themselves and who does not favor one of the beneficiaries).
• Consider gifting tangible items during life so they are not disposed of as part of a testamentary plan.

Any of these options would avoid the fighting that occurred in the above-discussed biblical tale. But perhaps do something extra that doesn’t even cost billable hours: talk to your beneficiaries, learn who values your tangible items most, and be transparent with your loved ones about your proposed testamentary plan. By following any of these options, no beneficiary will seek an order from the king (or judge) to cut your beloved painting in half.

[*] The king, in fact, had no intention of ordering the baby’s execution, but in his wisdom, knew he could identify the baby’s real mother as the woman who first asked him to save the baby’s life even if it meant giving her son to the other woman. In fact, one of the women immediately asked the king to spare the baby’s life and award the baby to the other woman; the king declared the woman willing to part with her child as the baby’s real mother and awarded the baby to her.