An estate settled with no disputed item and no re-assay.

An executor holding metal, and a court wanting proof.

The estate held bullion and coin across two safe deposit boxes and a home safe. No assay certificates existed, the insurance schedule did not match what was physically there, and three beneficiaries were entitled to specific pieces named in the will.

Without documentation the executor could not distribute anything without inviting a challenge from any of the three.

Assay first, divide second.

Every piece was collected under armored transport, assayed by an independent laboratory, sealed, and photographed. The schedule was rebuilt from the assay results rather than from the descriptions in the will.

Where the will named a piece we could not match to a physical item, we said so in writing and left the call to the executor and their counsel.

Sixty-two days from intake to distribution.

Each beneficiary received the items named to them with a certificate, a chain-of-custody record, and a signed transfer receipt. Nothing was disputed and nothing went back for a second assay.

Documentation the attorney kept.

The same records supported the estate tax filing without a second valuation exercise. The firm has since sent us four further estates on the same basis.