Q: When an adult child leaves the home (22y/o), under bad circumstances, the items remaining in the home belong to whom?
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- North Carolina
- (910) 333-9679
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- Answered
A: Items in the house belong to whomever owns them. Items left your your house do not magically become yours by mere virtue of being left in your house. If there are items that belong to your adult child, you are likely under a bailment obligation to store them safely for some period of time. You should provide written notice for your adult child to pick up the belongings and allow a reasonable period of time to do so - say 3 months or so, maybe longer. You can charge a reasonable storage fee. If the owner does not pick up the items within a reasonable period of time after having received written notice to do so - you can dispose of the property as you see fit. Larger, titled items like cars are a bit more complex but fall under the same generally theory.
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