Q: Who owns the inventory in a business...the person who bought the inventory or the person who owns the building?
My grandpa has been running a bargain shop for about 20 years. He has moved three times. The most recent move my aunt volunteered to help him by putting her name on the rent of the building and paying the taxes on the shop. My grandpa has purchased all of the inventory in the shop. Due to his declining health conditions my grandpa has decided to close the shop and do a liquidation sale. My aunt has told my grandpa and grandma that she gets 100% of the profit since her name is on the lease. The rest of my family says that she doesn't get everything as she hasn't done anything in running the store or purchased any of the inventory.
A: The lease speaks only to the interest in the real property, not to ownership of the business or the business assets. Without reviewing the actual documents, a full answer could not be provided. However, based on the information provided, the inventory belongs to the business, which in turn belongs to the business owners. Unless an agreement was reached that gave the aunt some ownership in the business (which may have been part of the agreement), the inventory likely belongs to your grandpa.
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