My married daughter won’t move her stuff out. What can I do?
What should you do when your married daughter won’t move her belongings out of her old room in your house and won’t let you move her stuff either?
First, you need to understand that unless you contracted with your adult daughter to allow her to store her things at your house, you have no obligation to store your adult daughter’s things at your house. Your adult daughter leaving her things at your house is what is known as a bailment for the benefit of the bailor (I won’t go into details as to what that all means—consult an attorney in your jurisdiction to find out those details). A bailment for the benefit of the bailor is terminable at will by either the bailor (your daughter) or the bailee (you) at will, as long as the party terminating the bailment gives due notice of the intent to terminate the bailment.
Second, you need to find out what the laws in your jurisdiction are regarding due notice you must give to terminate the bailment and also learn what the law in your jurisdiction requires as to what kinds of notice you have to give to the owner before you are legally authorized to throw the property in the trash or donate the property or keep the property as “abandoned”. Consult a good lawyer (not just any lawyer—this is not the kind of thing any lawyer will know off the top of his/her head) to find out how to proceed. It won’t cost you much, perhaps $100 – 500 to have the lawyer research the issue to find the answers.
Utah Family Law, LC | divorceutah.com | 801-466-9277