<p>Also, when you buy a house, don’t you buy ALL of it, including whatever’s in the walls?</p>
<p>^Especially true if the sales contract has a clause about the personal property left in the house after closing. The appellate courts in Oregon decided for the buyer of the house (and against the estate of the person who buried the money) when the clause looked like this:</p>
<p>“POSSESSION: [The estate] shall remove all personal property (including trash and debris) that is not a part of this transaction and deliver possession of the Property to [plaintiff] * * * by 5:00 p.m. on the closing date[.]” (Boldface in original.)"</p>
<p>Any personal property left after the closing date was deemed personal property that was part of the transaction, even if the estate didn’t know of the existence of the $$ at the time of closing.</p>
<p>Looks like the courts in the contractor case split the baby–gave some $ to the contractor, the heirs and let the house owner not have to pay back the $ already spent. The heirs got the money that was directly traceable to Mr. Dunne–the money had wrappers around them upon which he had written his name.</p>
<p>I am at a loss as to why the contractor should have gotten anything though.</p>
<p>Gee, the only things I’ve found in my 1927 home are a pack of cigarettes in an air vent (cleaning co. found) and a case of old soda bottles under the basement steps.</p>
<p>My mom is notorious for hiding cash and jewelry in pockets of her clothing, purses, and other places around the house. I’ve often joked that when she dies I’m going on a treasure hunt for a few days and THEN I’ll call my siblings to tell them that she died!</p>
<p>Speaking of gold in #19,… reminds me of what a older and highly respected colleague did during the years when Quebec was in the throes of possibly separating from Canada. He had been a refugee from Eastern Europe and had lived through losing all he had at the time. Paranoid, he drove to across the border and buried all his gold in a forest in Ontario.</p>
<p>Can some other lawyer tell me why the heirs should get anything? If the estate no longer owned the house, it seems to me that this money is abandoned property. </p>
<p>Speaking as a hyper-realist, I bet the contractors got some money as a reward for not snatching it up themselves.</p>
<p>I thought they said the heirs still owned the house.</p>
<p><<we were=“” shocked=“” at=“” how=“” careless=“” she=“” had=“” become=“” a=“” taking=“” care=“” of=“” her=“” valuables=“”>> My husband’s grandmother hid money in the pockets of jackets, etc in her closet, and in other odd places in the house. It wasn’t out of carelessness, for some reason she thought that anyone who broke into her house wouldn’t look in those places for money. Probably a depression-era thing.</we></p>
<p>Lafalum , his is exactly where my grandmother his her diamonds !
She lived in a very nice retirement community, so the likelihood of a break in was very small, but she was seeing some people walking thru her walls in her last months as well as a few circus performers and monkeys.</p>
<p>I do hide a small amount of ready cash in an odd spot and made sure that one DD knows where to check, just in case something happens.</p>
<p>I don’t see why the contractor is owed any of it, though a reward of some 10% or so might be nice, like rewarding some one who returns a lost wallet, etc.</p>
<p>And I agree with above that the heirs don’t seem to be part of it when the home was sold, it was sold.</p>
<p>The owner offered 10%, but the contractor wanted 40%. I think 40% is fair, given most contractors wouldn’t have told the owner about the find. These two people were actually old friends so it’s really a shame.</p>
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<p>No, Amanda Reece described as the homeowner.</p>
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<p>I would consider this theft.</p>
<p>Elderly relatives in Europe did not believe in banks, depression era folks. Hid (ALOT) of money inside the flue of an unused fireplace in one of the bedrooms. One son knew it was there, said to be over 700 Euros, but he never told siblings. When his sister came home for funeral, she burned all old papers etc in said fireplace.
Yikes all gone</p>
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<p>Abandonment, as a legal matter, may require an intent to abandon or throw away.</p>
<p>For example, Connecticut differentiates between abandoned, lost and mislaid:</p>
<p>Lost property has traditionally been defined as involving an involuntary parting, i.e. where there is no intent on the part of the loser to part with the ownership of the property . . . . Abandonment, in turn, has been defined as the voluntary relinquishment of ownership of property without reference to any particular person or purpose . . . i.e. a throwing away of the property concerned . . . . while mislaid property is defined as that which is intentionally placed by the owner where he can obtain custody of it , but afterwards forgotten. </p>
<p>Why does it make a difference? Because of the definition of larceny:</p>
<p>A person who comes into control of property of another that he knows to have been lost, mislaid, or delivered under a mistake as to the nature or amount of the property or the identity of the recipient is guilty of larceny if, with purpose to deprive the owner thereof, he fails to take reasonable measures to restore the property to a person entitled to it.</p>
<p>OK, cc attorneys, tell us the legal position as to the heirs- should they have a right to the funds or not? How hard does the finder need to work to locate the heirs?</p>
<p>Op asks what I would do? If I were the owner of the house I’d think the money was mine. Why? I bought the house, I figure its mine good or bad. If at some time I find electrical problems, I must deal with it. If I find the roof leaks, I’ll have to deal with it. If a contractor finds termites in the wall- they’re mine too. If I must suffer with problems that can arise with a house I own, then why can’t I benefit from a house I own?(remember there is no accusation of fraud). To settle with the contractor? How could he even imagine that something he found in my wall could any % belong to him? If he found a bill the last homeowner owed would he want to pay a % of that? If he found termites, would contractor have to pay a % to eliminate them? There is an inconsistency of a contractor willing to share the wealth of an unexpected find(good), but not willing to share the burden of an unexpected find(bad). Granted, I’d want to pay him some % as a thank you, and to reward his honesty- but not as an obligation.
I think it ridiculous that the heirs of previous owner get any % of this money.</p>
<p>Ellemope’s definition of mislaid(according to Conn. law) is the nearest to accurate but not quite right in this case. As I understand it, the owner of the hidden property(cash) has died, and heirs sold the container(house). When he died, didn’t his property become their property? I can’t imagine the new owner prevented the sellers from inspecting the property before they sold it. I have to assume the heirs took a walk-thru and retrieved all contents they wanted then sold the rest.</p>
<p>Shortly after my mother died (at age 58 from cancer), my father was sitting in their bedroom when his eye caught a lamp, the base of which was an old teapot. For some reason, he went and looked inside the pot where he found a manilla envelope containing about $2,000 in cash. On the outside of the envelope my mother had recorded various “deposits” and “withdrawals.” My mother was not eccentric in any way and not knowing why she might have been hoarding the cash has always (20+ years now) bothered me. My guess is that, although she owned a small business, she was pretty much at the mercy of my father where spending money was concerned and thus just wanted a bit of financial freedom. On the other hand, who knows? As I recently told my daughter in a wholly unrelated context, kids never really know their parents.</p>