looking after other persons property?

Question

my mother has some belongings that her grandaughter left in her garage, since they have fallen out, my mother wants it removed from her garage, How long legally does she have to give her notice to remove it, and if she doesnt remove it by that date can the grand daughter sue her grandma for disposing of her belongings

Answer 1

Depends on whether she is charging for storing it. 7 days would be reasonable in such circumstances. If she is storing it for free, common sense should prevail and she should allow time for alternative storage to be found. She is breaking the law if she dumps it on the street.

Answer 2

Need to check the law in that city/state because that can vary from place to place. Main thing is not to do anything verbally, she should follow through with everything in writing and make sure she gets a card from the post office to show who received any letters she sends if she decides to notify her in writing first.

I would contact a lawyer and have them send a letter to her telling her she has until a certain date to pick up the items. Specify in that letter that nothing can be removed unless the gm and her representative is there or she could be charged with trespassing and breaking and entering ~ she may own the items in the garage but she does not own the property or structures and has no right to be there without permission.

The gm should go out now and take pictures of everything she can for her own records, especially anything that is already damaged. Videos are excellent for this as long as the person doing the video takes their time and doesn't try to move too fast without focusing properly first. I've seen some bad ones that were worthless.

Check with the lawyer and find out how many times she needs to warn her before the property becomes "hers" to dispose of.

Hopefully all of this can be resolved soon and I truly hope they can make up before the gm passes away. The gm might want to be careful in the future about letting anyone store things at her place, that way there won't be a problem like this to deal with.

Good luck

Answer 3

Setting aside the rather unfortunate deterioration in the relationship, the legal answer is as follows:

Grandmother is (in law) currently a gratuitous bailee of the goods left by granddaughter.
As such, she is entitled to bring the bailment to an end on reasonable notice. There is no defined period.
(If the grand-daughter lives in Australia, what is reasonable notice is very different than if she lives down the road).
If granddaughter does not collect the goods, grandmother is entitled in law to sell them, and return the money raised to granddaughter, less the expenses of sale and of storage from the date of the notice.
This is the strict legal position, obviously it becomes more complex when one has a familial relationship involved.

Answer 4

She or her lawyer must write to her gran daughter and give reasonable notice and say what she will do if the goods are not removed. But this is her granddaughter is there no hope of a reconciliation? This action could almost make it impossible

Answer 5

6 months i think.. then she owns it or can dispose of it.. but not 100% sure

Answer 6

immediately.