Elder Theft Question - Estate Sale Companies

self | 04/04/2024 | fwdude

[gloryblaze]

The problem with my mother is that she kept literally EVERYTHING. From paperwork/receipts to gifts, greeting/holiday cards, to simple letters and notes. It was amazing what we found in her filing cabinet. It’s like a time capsule.

So, I take it that you separated the wheat from the chaff before you sent things off to the dealer?

[ridesthemiles]

County recorder should have that answer.

[Rockingham]

Filing cabinets? The closest that my mother has is boxes of store coupons that are forty years out of date. Unopened junk mail with postmarks from 1967. A kitchen table that has several feet of material piled on top. Dozens of wicker baskets and plastic bins to organize things, with most of them full of unsorted things yet to be organized. Over a hundred purses. Boxes and boxes of no one knows what, stacked in a living room that cannot be entered for all the stuff in it.

[MayflowerMadam]

“Contact your state’s consumer protection office.”

Good idea. I had exhausted every option I was aware of with one company. Two months later I sent online form to the TN Atty. Gen. Office consumer affairs. Next day the company couldn’t help me fast enough.

[absalom01]

What was I not clear about?

It doesn't matter, it's clear now.  And only trying to help, having relatively recent experience with three different elderly relatives needing to sell their houses, and having a bunch of accumulated stuff that needed to get out of the house for the sale of the house to go through.

If you've got them saying "the check is in the mail", that's an acknowledgement that they owe your friend some money, and if they've told you the amount of the check, you have them admitting the amount they owe.  If you're not disputing that amount, you could a) get a lawyer to write a stern letter to see if that shakes loose anything, or b) file a claim in small claims if the amount is under 20,000 (assuming this is in Texas). With their admision that they owe a certain amount, small claims might work out for you.

Otherwise, you'll have to come up with a way to establish the amount in dispute.

In my case, we first tried to come up with a realistic expectation of the gross value of the estate sale, by listing the items, and asssigning a "resale" value to each item.  We didnt' have any high-value art, real antiques, expensive jewlery (which we would have sold separately if whe had it), but some stuff probably had value to someone.

 

You wouldn't need to establish the Liquidator's costs, (in a claim, they would have to do that), but you can make a reasonable estimate based on the correspondence you have, and then figure what your friend's share of what she/he should have recieved should be.

Subtract what you believe to be the agreed upon expenses and share of sales from the gross value to quantify the amount you say is in dispute.

You'll still have a fight on your hands (they'll dispute the gross value, and say you underestimated their expenses), but at least you have a starting place and can evaluate some options.

You could still try small claims, but they'll be able to cloud the waters.

If the amount in dispute is over 20K, maybe it's worth litigation, but that has its own set of problems, not the least of which is spending a ton of money up front, and the fact that it takes years to get these things to move through the courts, with no guarantee of success.  And you have to figure out if the person you're suing has any assets -- ie, even if you win, can you collect?

 

Your friend is lucky to have you helping, so many folks have to try to manage this on their own and it can be overwhelming.  Props to you for looking out for him/her.   Hope this helps.

[CommerceComet]

Glad to hear that is the approach you are taking. As much as I resent having to pay their fees, hiring an attorney is frequently the best and cheapest alternative. Hope it all works out for you.