Fair way of dividing assets / drawing straws

Post date: 2017-12-14 05:43:34

I need to divide estate assets between 3 siblings who will not agree on anything.

I've considered various complicated solutions like using a spreadsheet or other app to try to come up with fair allocations as determined by dollar value, but the siblings do not agree on the value of the goods (nobody agrees on even appraised items). So, I've been thinking we should simply put the assets on a list, draw straws for who gets first pick, and move through the list with each person picking.

The problem with that approach is that the assets are very "lumpy" in value, with maybe 2 very valuable items and everything else less valuable relatively speaking (like the first two things are each worth 5x the third thing) so whoever gets the first or second pick will be way ahead in terms of value. I've been thinking perhaps a way to make this fairer would be to have the "pick" sequence go 1-2-3-3-2-1, etc., so that 3 gets two picks of the somewhat better items.

Does this make sense? Is there a better way to do this? Simple is best, because of total disagreement on everything. My thought is that we would agree on the system of picking before anybody knows if they are 1 or 3.

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