Legal Question in Civil Litigation in North Carolina

My brother asked to store his nightstands in my garage 7 years ago and I've asked him several times to get them. Now I am organizing my garage and need them out but he still won't come to get them. What can I legally do with them? I'd like to just donate them so I can have my space back in my garage. We never had any kind of legal document and he never lived here.


Asked on 8/03/11, 10:45 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

What I would do is take pictures of the night stands and any other property belonging to him. Also inventory it.

Write him a letter and send it via UPS or certified/registered mail or some method by which you can track it and have a proof of delivery and who signed for it. In the letter tell him that you kindly have agreed to store his stuff for the past 7 years, but that it is now time to remove it. Tell him this is the final notice and ask him to remove his stuff or else you will take and donate it to charity (Good Will, Salvation Army or a local thrift shop). Give him 15 days to contact you. If he does, then make arrangements to let him have it. If he doesn't, then take the stuff to the charity and get a receipt. Copy the receipt for you and send him the original and tell him what charity you took it to and give him the contact information. It will be up to him to get his stuff back.

If he comes after you, you will have the pictures, the inventory and receipt to establish what the stuff was worth and you will be protected from any possible claims he might try to assert for conversion. He has 3 years from the date of your disposal of the stuff to do that so make sure that you keep the photos, inventory and receipt for at least 3 years if not longer.

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Answered on 8/03/11, 11:27 am


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