Q: Who has the legal rights to own the possessions of a deceased roommate if said roommate has no family?
My friends housemate passed away recently. They lived together for about 10 years in one house (owned by the living housemate) in Missouri. The deceased had no family at all that were living, except for one estranged brother who may be in prison, whereabouts unknown and no will made out. The deceased was big collector of toys and memorabilia to the point of hoarding. The deceased was in debt to his housemate a lot of money. Now, my friend has a house full of his toys and collectibles and wants to try and sell them to make back the money he is owed. Does he have the right to do this and if not, who do the possessions go to? And just for the record, they are both gay but not in a relationship. Thank you
A:
A Kansas attorney could advise best here, but your post remains open for four weeks. At this point, you might not want to lose more time waiting for a response in a different legal category, but this is something that attorneys in the Probate and Estate Planning categories would have the most insight about. There's no guarantee that every question is picked up, but you could repost there - or you could reach out to attorneys in those areas. Good luck
Tim Akpinar
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