Legal Question in Family Law in Texas
ex husbands abandoned property
My daughter was recently granted a divorce by the state of texas.Her ex husband was told by the judge to pick up his property from my house in nj on march 12 between the hours of 8am to 8 pm.He did not show up. We have been asking him for 1 1/2 years to pick up his belongings and he has not. Are we legally able to dispose of his property since he did not pick it up on the date the judge ordered him to?He has told us he can ignore the date and pick it up at his convenience. Nancy
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: ex husbands abandoned property
I assume your daughter had an attorney.
You need to talk to the attorney.
I have not read your decree so I can only comment in general -- if he was ordered to do something and it was signed by a Judge & you have a certified copy in your possession, you can follow what is written in the legal document.
Good luck!
Sounds like you will need it!
Re: ex husbands abandoned property
When you say the judge "told" him to pick up the property on a date certain, does that mean he stated that specifically in a written order or decree? As Ms. Brochstein wisely noted, read the decree and any other documents you have and follow them to the letter. If this was just a verbal comment, things are much less clear...
Anyway, and please note that I am not giving you specific legal advice:
My take on things is that if someone hasn't picked up there belongings after 1 1/2 years post divorce, then the belongings have been abandoned. Has it been that long post-divorce or merely that amount of time since the property has been in your home?
In matter such as this the law typically interprets the situation under a "reasonableness" standard. In other words what would a reasonable person do under the circumstances. In my opinion, a year and a half is more than a reasonable amount of time to wait. (This is assuming he is not in some special circumstances, such as deployed in the military. By all means, if something like that is occurring then give him all the time he needs).
Otherwise, if your home is being used as a free storage unit, I would personally send the ex a demand letter (certified return receipt requested) giving reasonable amount of time, say, thirty days notice depending on the circumstances, to pick up his property or you will donate it to charity.
Like I said, this is not specific legal advice to you, because I don't know all of the circumstances. Be prudent and you really should sit down with your own attorney on this matter.
All the best to you Nancy.
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