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I was the executor of my very troubled cousin's estate in 2010. We thought we had found all her property and sold and/or distributed as per her wishes in her will.
However, we always assumed she had some valuables that we never were able to locate (some family heirloom jewelry mostly, worth per family estimates at about $15,000). She was a bit of a recluse, had some mental health problems (she committed suicide at 38 years old), drug use problems, and also had a hoarding problem. So we figured, well, she must have lost it, sold it, etc. to pay for her latest fix
Fast forward to last week...we moved to Ohio recently, and I was unpacking the last few boxes of paperwork, some of which was my cousin's documents that I still retained from her estate. While organizing and going through some of her papers, we found a rental agreement for a self-storage unit back in California (where she lived, and I lived until a few months ago) that she had rented in 2007, buried. We never saw it before, probably because it was stapled on behind the last page of her condo association agreement and we never thought to look in there.
I made a couple calls, and found that this unit was siezed due to non-payment in April, 2010, a month after she died. The rental agreement clearly states they have a right to do this, so I assume we're dead in the water, right?
Does her estate (which still exists as a legal entity) have any rights to the value of the items that the storage facility auctioned off? The family was never aware of the existence of this unit until now. I'm guessing no.
Yep. Otherwise, every Self-Storage place on the planet would be filled with the stuff of people who didn't pay their bills. I realize that your cousin was not a deadbeat, but lots of people who use those things and don't pay their bills are.
Consult with an attorney. Preferrably one handling the estate. I am guessing it depends on locale, but some storage lien sales have to be publicly posted like the legal section of a newpaper or other place with public access.
Not only did you loose it, you could be charged for back-rent. The storage property owners probably have an air-tight contract discussing what happens with non-payment. You're involved with an unfortunate chain of events and I hope you're doing OK.
Self-storage rivals the reputation of used car salespeople. It's sad. There should be some more notice involved in seizures (IMO).
Very sorry about your circumstance.
More notice? You have to be 90 overdue, before they publicly list your name in the paper that they are going to auction off your belonging. Then you could still pay as late as 1 minute before the auction to retain your belongings. There have been storage unit auctions, where after the unit was auctioned, the winner goes to the office to pay for the unit they won, only to find out the owner paid in full sometime between when the auction started to when there unit was auctioned off. The auction winner bid is ruled invalid and the original owner gets to keep there stuff.
Believe me there more than enough notice to inform people there stuff is getting auctioned off. It's the stick your head in the sand mentality these people have. The same kind people have when they ignore eviction notices and are surprised the day the sheriff shows up at the door to throw them out.
Dave Hester is such an arrogant jerk. I bet he got bullied when he was young and now that he has a little bit of money its his way of payback. Total jerk. Sore loser and sore winner.
The law on storage units and disposal of property can vary tremendously from state to state. You never know if this particular storage sale was conducted in conformity with the requirements of the law without looking into it, but I suspect the people who run those things know how to do it right.
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