Legal Question in Family Law in California
My mother unexpectedly passed away March 2010 at the age of 56. She had been wearing my grandmother's wedding rings since my grandmother was placed in a home about 5 or 6 years ago. At this time, my grandmother gave her wedding rings to my mother, because she was afraid of them getting stolen. She still lives there, and just turned 100 this past September, although she has severe dementia.
My mother's sister walked into my parent's house, less than 24 hours after my mother's body was removed, and demanded she receive my grandmother's wedding rings. She said to my brother and I "I want your grandmother's rings..." I did not give her any response, because I of course needed to speak with my father about it. When I went to speak with my father about it, he told me that my aunt had taken him aside and already asked him for the rings. It just so happened that neither myself or my brother was even there.
I believe my father was taken advantage of and that he was not in the correct state of mind to make such a decision having just unexpectedly lost his wife of 30 years less than 24 hours earlier.
A week or two later, while cleaning out my mother's drawers, I found a journal that my mother had written to me from the time I was born.I came upon an entry that said she would "never let anyone have grandma's rings but you or your brother," that they were my mother's "most prized possessions."
My grandmother gave her wedding rings to my mother, the youngest of 4 siblings, knowing they would go to my brother and myself since we were the youngest grandchildren. Both my grandmother and mother spoke about this openly with us. My grandmother lived with us 4 days a week from the time I was practically a baby, and I will always remember her telling me how these beautiful rings that my grandfather (who passed away before I was born) gave her would be mine one day, to pass onto my children.
My brother and I had the closest relationship to my grandmother out of any other grandchildren in the family. We lived with her for most of our childhood and beyond...I mean, she practically raised us.
Once I found this information in the journal, I consulted a couple of family members about what to do with it. The idea of my mother's rings being stolen from me behind my back just kept eating away at me, and bothered other family members as well. I took this evidence to my aunt and went to her home in person asking her for the rings back. It is what my grandmother AND my mother wanted. Firstly she stated she didn't even have the rings...because they were apparently at the jeweler. Then she asked for time to think about it.
I didn't receive any answer from her for over 2 weeks until she finally e-mailed me an answer... saying no. Her reasoning was that what was written in my mother's journal was an assumption, and that my grandmother did not in fact "give" them to my mother...but that they were "lent" to her for "safe-keeping." This makes absolutely no sense to me.
My questions is, do I have any legal right to my mother's possessions? Can I possibly get back????
Please help.
1 Answer from Attorneys
I will try to take a step by step approach to your question. Either your grandmother "lent" the rings to your mother or gave them to her as a gift. If the first is true, then the rings should go back to your grandmother, although it probably is best to put it somewhere else as it does not sound like she can keep it safely or derive any pleasure out of them. If it was a gift to your mother, then it is part of your mother's estate as her non-community property assets. On her death, unless she states differently in her Will, her private property would be divided into thirds, one-third each to your father, brother, and yourself. Under none of the circumstanes you describe is your Aunt entitled to any portion of the rings. Did your aunt have the rings at the jewlery shop to clean them or to sell them?
Point out to your aunt that none of her defenses hold water. There is no evidence your grandmother "lent" her the jewels. Absent a Will to the contrary, she has no legal or equitable claim to them. Your father, unless the jewels were held under joint tenancy, had no legal ownership of them either so could not legally transfer them to her. Having been informed that she has no right to the jewelery, you should point out that if the Will is probated the judge will have to select how the assets are to be divided.
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