Your grandmother’s necklace. A favorite painting. The dining room table where your family gathered for holidays. These belongings may not be the largest assets in your estate, but they can carry enormous emotional value.

California Probate Code Section 6132 offers a practical way to say who should receive certain personal belongings without rewriting your entire will every time your wishes change. A separate written list, often called a Personal Property Memorandum, can become an enforceable part of your estate plan if the statutory requirements are met.

But there is an important limit: you cannot use this memorandum to leave someone ordinary cash. And a bank account does not qualify, either.

Here is how the rule works, what belongs on the list, and how to handle gifts of money instead.

What Is a Personal Property Memorandum?

A Personal Property Memorandum is a separate writing identifying particular items and the people who should receive them after your death.

Under Section 6132, the basic requirements are:

• Your unrevoked will must refer to the separate writing.
• The writing must be dated and either in your handwriting or signed by you.
• The items and their recipients must be described with reasonable certainty.
• The property must qualify under the statute and must not already be specifically disposed of by your will.

For example, a memorandum might say: “My sapphire ring, currently kept in my bedroom jewelry box, to my daughter, Elena Martinez.”

That is much clearer than “My jewelry to Elena,” particularly if you own several pieces or have more than one relative with that name.

The statute contains provisions addressing certain defects in a writing, but those are not a substitute for preparing a clear, properly dated and signed document.

What Can Go on the List?

Qualifying tangible personal property generally includes articles of personal or household use or ornament, such as:

• Furniture and furnishings
• Jewelry
• Artwork and decorative objects
• Household belongings and keepsakes
• Automobiles and boats, subject to the statute’s value limits

California also expressly includes precious metals in tangible form, such as bullion and certain coins, as well as articles held for investment purposes.

However, Section 6132 is not a way to give away every asset you own. It excludes real estate, certain mobilehomes, intangible assets such as bank accounts and securities, and property used primarily in a trade or business.

The memorandum also cannot give away someone else’s ownership interest. Jointly owned property and assets held in a trust require attention to ownership and the governing documents.

Why Can’t You Put Cash in the Memorandum?

The reason is straightforward: Section 6132(a) expressly excludes “money that is common coin or currency.”

The statute defines that term to include United States coins and currency used as legal tender. Ordinary spending money does not become eligible just because it is a physical object.

That means these instructions do not work as Section 6132 memorandum gifts:

• “Give $5,000 in cash to my grandson.”
• “Give my daughter the $2,000 in the envelope in my desk.”
• “Divide the cash in my home safe equally among my children.”

Identifying the envelope, drawer or safe does not change the nature of the asset. It is still ordinary cash, which the statute excludes.

The important distinction is that “tangible personal property” is a defined legal category here, not simply anything you can touch.

What About a Bank Account?

A bank account is excluded for a different reason: Section 6132(h)(1) expressly excludes bank accounts and other monetary deposits as intangible property.

So “My savings account to my niece” does not become an effective gift under this statute merely because it appears on a signed personal property list.

The same caution applies to securities and other excluded financial assets. Their disposition needs to be addressed through the appropriate estate-planning documents or account arrangements.

Are Collectible Coins Different?

Potentially, yes. Section 6132 distinguishes ordinary money from coins or currency kept or acquired for historical, artistic, collectible or investment value apart from their normal use as legal tender.

A qualifying coin collection or bullion may therefore be eligible even though ordinary cash is not.

For example, a grandfather’s collectible coin set may be treated differently from a jar of quarters saved for everyday spending. The distinction depends on the nature and purpose of the property, not simply the fact that both contain coins.

Any eligible collection must still fit within the statute’s other requirements and value limits.

California’s Dollar Limits Matter

Section 6132 imposes two important limits:

• The total value of property disposed of through the writing cannot exceed $25,000.
• An individual item worth more than $5,000 is not distributed under this section. Instead, the statute directs it to pass under the will’s remainder clause.

An over-$5,000 item passing under that remainder clause is not counted toward the $25,000 limit.

This can produce a surprising result. If you list a ring worth $8,000 for your niece, the memorandum does not accomplish that gift under Section 6132. A specific gift in a properly prepared will or trust may be the better approach.

Can You Change the Memorandum Later?

Yes. The writing may be prepared before or after the will, and Section 6132 permits later handwritten or signed changes. If writings conflict over the same property, the most recent writing controls.

As a practical matter, keep one clearly dated, signed current version with your estate-planning documents. Describe items precisely, identify recipients clearly, and consider alternate recipients in case someone dies before you.

Do not assume the list is only a private family instruction sheet. Section 6132 also requires the personal representative to file it in probate according to the statute’s timing rules.

How Should You Leave Someone Money Instead?

A cash gift belongs in a planning tool designed to handle it. Depending on your circumstances, that may mean:

• A specific monetary gift in your will
• A distribution provision in your trust
• A properly established payable-on-death designation for an eligible account

These options have different legal and practical consequences. Account designations, ownership and estate-planning documents should be coordinated rather than treated as interchangeable.

The Bottom Line

A California Personal Property Memorandum can make it easier to update gifts of qualifying belongings without rewriting your entire will. But it is not a shortcut for distributing cash, bank accounts, high-value individual items or every other asset in your estate.

Use the memorandum for property it can legally cover. Put monetary gifts and other excluded assets into the right estate-planning documents or beneficiary arrangements.

Ginsburg Law Group can help you coordinate your will, trust, beneficiary designations and personal property instructions so that your wishes are clear and your plan works together. Contact us at https://ginsburglawgroup.com/contact/.

Source: California Probate Code § 6132, particularly subdivisions (a), (c), (d), (f), (g) and (h): https://california.public.law/codes/probate_code_section_6132

This article provides general information about California law and is not legal advice. The appropriate plan depends on your assets, ownership arrangements and circumstances.