borrowed property being sold without permission

i live in illinois. when my brother and his wife moved back to our home town in illinois my husband and i let them borrow some of our furniture. my brother moved out of the rental house they lived in. my sister-in-law came to my house at which time i stated that i wanted my furniture back when she moved out of the house. she stated that she would let me know so that i could collect my husband and i's furniture. i soon found out through a family relative that my sister-in-law was moving out of the rental house. that very day my husband and brother went to the house to retrieve our furniture. They loaded the van as much as they could, took the loaded furniture to storage, and then returned to the house for the rest of the furniture. When they returned 15 minutes later, all doors were locked and they could not get inside. We tried to get in touch with my sister-in-law to no avail. One week later we were able to get into the house and it was completely empty. The landlord stated that my sister-in-law had sold everything in the house including the washer and dryer that was there when my brother and she had moved in. My question: How can I collect the money from my sister-in-law (soon to be ex-sister-in-law as my brother was summoned for a divorce proceeding just this week) for my furniture that she sold without permission? and, how can i do this without it coming back on my brother? Help

This is a little sticky!!! The issue of getting compensated for your furniture is fairly simple, the problem comes in when you add that you don't want it "coming back on" your brother.

Since BOTH of them borrowed the furniture, they are both responsible, especially since the 'conversion of property' occurred while they are/were still married. Technically, this means that they both benefited from the proceeds of the sale.

You can try filing a small claims action against your SIL (sister-in-law) and see if it stands, but she may file to include your brother.

Write your SIL a demand letter (certified, RRR), asking for the furniture and state a value of the 'missing' items. Give her a reasonable time to respond (10 days from receipt?). If she fails to respond, you will have to decide whether to take further action.