Legal Question in Family Law in Texas
My daughter divorced from her husband over a year and a half ago, and they were living in my Texas home at the time. My daughter still lives there. Her ex-husband left some personal items in the home when he left (clothes, tools, personal effects, etc), and was supposed to pick them up. On at least two occasions (by appointment) my daughter took off of work to be at the house to open it so that an appointed representative for her ex husband (he was and still is in the US Army) could retrieve the items. However, on the two appointed dates, nobody showed up, and neither her ex husband nor anyone else has ever contacted her again about the property. Her ex husband left the state on a new military assignment after the divorce, and has been gone for over a year. At what point would she be allowed to consider it legally abandoned and either sell or discard the property? Also, would I have any legal claim against him for reasonable storage fees for keeping his property safely stored in my home for a year waiting for him to pick it up?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Forget the storage fees argument. You'd never collect them, so why add fuel to the fire?
The safest things to do are one of the following:
1. Ask the court for a declaratory judgment determining that the items are abandoned by him and now are your daughter's property.
2. Put his stuff in a small, cheap storage facility. Pay the first three months' rent. Let him know where his stuff is and tell him that within 90 days he either has to start paying the storage facility or come get his stuff.
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