Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Florida

My husband and I moved in with our son in Alabama. We stored our belongings at his home. After 1 month my husband had to have quadruple Bipass Surgery and my son and daughter in law kicked us out of their house. We lived in an extended stay hotel for the remaining time my husband had to recuperate and could be released from the doctors care. We moved back to Florida with only what we had in the car to live with our younger son.

It has been two years and has taken us this long to secure new jobs and enough money to send for our belongings. Our son in Alabama agreed to load our things into a POD which we received today. Many of our things are missing. Do we have any legal rights to get the rest of the items back as they are not returning our calls inquiring what happened?


Asked on 1/13/10, 8:00 am

2 Answers from Attorneys
Sarah Grosse Sarah Grosse, Esquire

I am sorry to hear you have had a rough time, but happy to hear that things are looking better now.

You may be able to get all your stuff back, if the people still have it. They may have sold-off some things to compensate for storage fee, but it was not really in their discretion to do so. You can file an action in replevin, which means basically "I demand my property be returned to me."

I would start with a demand letter. I would consider the value of the missing property vs. the cost to try to get it back (cost-benefit analysis). I would stop short of incurring unnecessary legal fees or fees in XS of the value of the property which you seek to reclaim. Of course, photos and memorabilia are priceless.

If your personal things are in Alabama, you will have to sue in Alabama to reclaim them. Please seek advice under Alabama law.

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Answered on 1/18/10, 8:53 am
Alan Wagner Wagner, McLaughlin & Whittemore P.A.

You can write to ask about what is missing. You can sue them, but would need to do so there most likely. It is probably not worth the hassle or mess. Sorry your son has treated you this way.

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Answered on 1/18/10, 2:50 pm


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