daytripper72
Junior Member
Michigan
Not sure where to put this, so here goes.
A friend of mine is involved in a messy divorce, whereas his wife was allowed to stay at the residence and he moved out. Still, his things were there and she would'nt let him have anything until the settlement. The settlement came and went, and she refused to give him his things per the court order.
So Saturday, we and five others go over to the residence (a house, which was owned by him and his wife) to get his things. She had changed the locks so we kicked the door in. Remember, this is his house, too. The house is in the process of being foreclosed upon and she had not physically lived there in months. The water has even been turned off.
To make matters more confusing, his mother-in-law had been staying there also some months prior and left a lot of her things there. She states it is her physical address but it is not, and the house will be foreclosed on any day. Yet she states her things were not abandoned.
So, in the process of moving his things, people are in a hurry and we are running around trying to grab everything in the court order, as well as some other community property type things that she had left but did not state she would get in the divorce. In the confusion, some of the mother-in-law's things were put into the truck. Guys were helping that had no knowledge of those who lived there, and accidents happened. A box of her papers got in there, and perhaps a few other things of very little value. I doubt she can prove much of it was hers, and even some of things she is claiming was specifically mentioned in the court papers as belonging to my friend.
So she of course is yelling "Theft!" This is woman who has felony fraud convictions, one for social security fraud and other for stealing money from an old lady whom she was supposed to be her caregiver. But of course she points the finger at someone else every chance she gets.
So the trailer was impounded and everything catalogued. So is there any chance the lot of us are gonna face criminal charges, because (maybe) a few of her things got mixed in with the move of my friends stuff from my friend's house. And when is something considered abandoned? And if she leaves it there, in his house, isn't it community property too?
I'm trying to figure out how they would prosecute us. Yes, it's pretty obvious the papers were hers, but they are worthless to us. It was grabbed purely by accident and we didn't intend to take anything that was hers. If we did take other things of hers, they weren't of much value. And also, how do we know who accidentally grabbed what? How would *they* know? Would they prosecute us individually or as a group? I mean this is crazy.
My friend thinks it's gonna go to civil court if anything, and I hope he's right. I can't imagine being convincted of larceny when I alone did not grab anything that was hers. She can have her box of papers back, who cares, we don't want it. But the ownership of the most of the rest of property is in dispute and I'm not sure what could prove who's was who's one way or the other.
Not sure where to put this, so here goes.
A friend of mine is involved in a messy divorce, whereas his wife was allowed to stay at the residence and he moved out. Still, his things were there and she would'nt let him have anything until the settlement. The settlement came and went, and she refused to give him his things per the court order.
So Saturday, we and five others go over to the residence (a house, which was owned by him and his wife) to get his things. She had changed the locks so we kicked the door in. Remember, this is his house, too. The house is in the process of being foreclosed upon and she had not physically lived there in months. The water has even been turned off.
To make matters more confusing, his mother-in-law had been staying there also some months prior and left a lot of her things there. She states it is her physical address but it is not, and the house will be foreclosed on any day. Yet she states her things were not abandoned.
So, in the process of moving his things, people are in a hurry and we are running around trying to grab everything in the court order, as well as some other community property type things that she had left but did not state she would get in the divorce. In the confusion, some of the mother-in-law's things were put into the truck. Guys were helping that had no knowledge of those who lived there, and accidents happened. A box of her papers got in there, and perhaps a few other things of very little value. I doubt she can prove much of it was hers, and even some of things she is claiming was specifically mentioned in the court papers as belonging to my friend.
So she of course is yelling "Theft!" This is woman who has felony fraud convictions, one for social security fraud and other for stealing money from an old lady whom she was supposed to be her caregiver. But of course she points the finger at someone else every chance she gets.
So the trailer was impounded and everything catalogued. So is there any chance the lot of us are gonna face criminal charges, because (maybe) a few of her things got mixed in with the move of my friends stuff from my friend's house. And when is something considered abandoned? And if she leaves it there, in his house, isn't it community property too?
I'm trying to figure out how they would prosecute us. Yes, it's pretty obvious the papers were hers, but they are worthless to us. It was grabbed purely by accident and we didn't intend to take anything that was hers. If we did take other things of hers, they weren't of much value. And also, how do we know who accidentally grabbed what? How would *they* know? Would they prosecute us individually or as a group? I mean this is crazy.
My friend thinks it's gonna go to civil court if anything, and I hope he's right. I can't imagine being convincted of larceny when I alone did not grab anything that was hers. She can have her box of papers back, who cares, we don't want it. But the ownership of the most of the rest of property is in dispute and I'm not sure what could prove who's was who's one way or the other.
