Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Maine

ownership of letters

I am in possession of two decades

worth of letters written to my father

by a family friend. My father passed

away, as did his friend. The friend

was a successful author, and my

father's wish was for me to try to get

the letter's published as a book for

the author's loyal fans. Am I the

rightful and legal owner of the

letters? My father's estate was

settled several years ago and the

letters were given to me.


Asked on 3/07/07, 9:33 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Jerome Gamache Ainsworth Thelin & Raftice, P.A.

Re: ownership of letters

The general law applying to ownership is that the sender of a letter is "giving" that letter to the receipient. Therefore your father, and later his estate, are the legal owners. Assuming that the letters were properly distributed to you from the estate, you should be the legal owner. There are potentially other legal issues beyond ownership that are implicated by publication of the letters, such as if the content of the letters would defame anyone, but such issues are beyond my ability to address in this email/web format.

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Answered on 3/07/07, 2:09 pm


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