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bevk4

Guest
What is the name of your state? PA
My brother in law passed away in March of 2003. My sister was denied common law marriage status. My brother in law's son from a previous marriage was appointed adminstrator of the estate. He filed a motion to recover personal property from my sister. His list contained items that soley belonged to my sister so they had to go to court again. The court awarded my brother in law's ATV (4 wheeler) to the son.
Before he passed away, he brought his ATV to my husband to have work done on it. There is money due for repairs started. We notified the son's lawyer that we have the ATV and that the bill needs to be paid before we release it. The lawyer responded with a letter stating that we are in contempt of court by not releasing the ATV.
Are we in contempt?? or do we have the right to be paid for services before it is taken from our possession?
Thank you
 


Dandy Don

Senior Member
Yes, you are in contempt, but in order to avoid further complications (the attorney could file charges against you for contempt but it is probably not very likely that would happen unless you needlessly stall/delay delivery of the vehicle for more than 2-4 weeks).

Your brother-in-law's estate executor is responsible for getting this bill paid and you need to submit it to him by certified mail as soon as possible and see if there is enough money left in the estate to be able to pay this bill or what his reaction to it is going to be. Smart thing to do would be to call the executor after you have sent him the bill to find out what he is going to do about it, but in view of the bad relations in this family, it would be smart of you to cooperate now by going ahead and giving up the vehicle.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])
 
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bevk4

Guest
Well, we tried to give up the vehicle, but when the executor came to pick up the ATV, he refused to take it. About 5 minutes after he left, I called the executor's attorney and left a message that he had refused to take it. I am assuming that, from his remarks while he was at my house, he expected a running ATV. (He wanted to take my husband's ATV and said he would be back for it later) When my husband was in court he stated that the ATV was in pieces. We notified the lawyer that the ATV was in mid repair and not drivable. The bill we filed with the estate was for 5 hours of tear down time. They were notified that work was stopped when my brother in law passed away. I faxed to the attorney 2 days later and told him again that he refused to take it. I also let them know that because the ATV was made available to him and he refused to take it that we were charging storage @ $5.00/day begining the Sunday he was there and didn't take it with him. We have not heard anything from the son or the lawyer in over a week.
Are we still in contempt because he did not take it?? Should we do anything further?
 

Dandy Don

Senior Member
Since he refused pickup, then you are not in contempt. If the repairs are finished, why isn't the vehicle in operable condition?
 
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bevk4

Guest
The repairs are not finished. Work stopped when my brother in law passed away. The work that was done to it was to tear it down (take it apart) to see what the problem was. He brought it out on 2/26/03 and passed away on 3/14/03.
 
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