Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Personal Property

This situation comes under the law of bailments, which in California now seems to be called "deposit." It's covered in the Civil Code starting with Section 1813. I hasten to add that there are other provisions of law regarding property left behind that apply to special situations such as a landlord's responsibility for belongings of a tenant, an innkeeper for those of a guest, mini-storage operations, and perhaps others.

In the more general case, which seems to be what you have here, I'd say the bailment (deposit) law applies; that this was a voluntary deposit because your possession of the stuff was intentional and consensual at the outset, and that it was gratuitous rather than for hire - i.e., you weren't storing goods for a fee like a warehouse, nor were you intending to make a profit, lie a dry cleaner or watch repair or consignment shop.

OK, if that's a proper classification, I'd say (a) while you have custody of the stuff, you have a modest duty to take care of it - so called "ordinary care." (b) You will never become the owner of it - that doesn't happen. (c) Your duty to store and take care of the stuff ceases when she picks it up, or when you give her reasonable notice to come and get it, and she fails to do so within a reasonable time, per Civil Code section 1847(b).

Even though your duties as a depositary cease when you give notice and get no response, you don't become the owner, and neither the Code nor the cases cited to section 1847 give any clue as to what the depositary's right to dispose of the property may be, if any. I would guess, without knowing, that the proper action to take is to sell the stuff for whatever you can get through a sale in what is called "a commercially-reasonable manner" and keep the sale proceeds, less your expenses, in a special interest-brearing account for her.

I would add that a three-year statute of limitations applies to cut off her right to sue for recovery of her property or the money you get from selling it three years after the sale or other disposition.