need advice on small claims court and a letter (member, relatives, messages)
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The point is, they had 2 weeks to mail out payment before the man died. They use to mail out the payment promptly, but payments have been longer and longer and there are some ppl who have said that they NEVER got paid. Their reputation has been suffering lately.
Those 2 weeks may have been spent dealing with hospitals, medical bills, and major emotional decisions. Sounds like the business was suffering a lot of confusion which would have only gotten worse right before he died. Maybe the "tone" of your letter should be more of a reminder of the details of the account that is owed, not a demand for payment. Watch the local newspaper for legal notices and announcements. If there was an estate it will go through probate. Probate includes a specific period during which liens and claims on the business must be filed.
Google “demand letter” to help you with some terminology and adjust the tone of your letter as you deem appropriate for the situation. I suspect you may never get the money. Just sometimes the cost of doing business. If you have dealt with this business for many years and liked the folks, a $300 total loss considering all the past deals might just be what you will have to accept.
They may not even be able to access the money right now. It may all be in limbo depending on how the business was set up and who was owners and who was on the bank account. It may have to be probated before anyone can get paid or it may be they just have to get the death certificates and go have accounts changed to their names so they can write checks. Keep in mind that you will have to pay the court fee to file the small claims suit and you may end up with a judgement that never gets satisfied. You would also have to pay to file the judgement. So if you want to spend $100 or more and waste hours of time to only recover $200 or $300 it is your prerogative but seems like a waste of time to me. I would continue to try to reach out to them and find out where they are at on getting everyone paid. It may be that they simply cannot access the account right now. Then again it could be that he died and they discovered the money was going out faster than it was coming in and there is no money.
The point is, they had 2 weeks to mail out payment before the man died. They use to mail out the payment promptly, but payments have been longer and longer and there are some ppl who have said that they NEVER got paid. Their reputation has been suffering lately.
Cripes, I had 60% of the contents of my old house, including almost all my antique items, auctioned off in October 2018. I just picked up my check from the auctioneer this Tuesday, and believe me, it was way more substantial that $2-300. Can't you give them a little more time before writing a demand letter? If they're a reputable auction house, they'll eventually pay you. I dealt with a real thief of an auctioneer one time (unbeknownst to me beforehand) and went the whole small claims route. He never showed up for the hearing so I won by default and got my judgement, but I also never received a penny in payment either.
I was going to be very soft and kind in my letter. I even sent a card when the owner died. I know the family has been waiting for him to die- literally- because for years they were tired of doing the job. We've known these ppl for 18 yrs. Strong arming anyone and being threatening gets you nowhere.
I don't think they will ever re-open the business.
I disagree with everyone else.
I think you should be gently persistent. The fact that they've stopped paying other consignors is alarming, and no, I don't care about the circumstances surrounding non-payment. This is business. You've acknowledged their loss. That's enough.
The longer she waits -- and I'm sure some of you are thinking it's crass of her to expect the payment at all, how could she do that to those poor people? -- the less likely she'll receive it.
They probably can't pay you until the estate is settled. Someone has to go over the books and see what they have and what is owed. But if the money is in a bank account he had for the auction, no one would be allowed to access that at this point.
They probably can't pay you until the estate is settled. Someone has to go over the books and see what they have and what is owed. But if the money is in a bank account he had for the auction, no one would be allowed to access that at this point.
Not necessarily. If he left a will, at some point there will be an executor recognized by the probate court. The executor will have the authority to pay any creditors using estate assets before the estate is actually settled. That is, if there are any liquid assets to pay them with.
However, if the business didn't have co-owners, the deceased didn't give financial POA to anyone when he was ill, and no one else co-owned the business account(s) no one could have been able to write you a check prior to his death.
This is moot now unless the business is still operating under another owner.
POAs expire upon death. The accounts freeze unless someone was already set up as a direct beneficiary to them beforehand. The executor will need to present credentials to the bank before they will even release account information. If he died intestate the probate court will designate someone to distribute any holdings, settle liens and claims on the business.
OP most likely you'll need to wait a while to see your money, even if you do get a court judgment. It might not be worth pursuing at this point unless you know the business is still in operation. If there are no assets, you may never see anything.
Last edited by Parnassia; 01-11-2019 at 06:39 PM..
Right, eventually it’ll happen, but OP expects to be paid right this minute, and he’s ready to go to court. However it must go though a process, the bank will not do anything on the account until all the legal i’s are dotted. first as you said, and a judge can’t make a ruling to get it faster.
It’s a sucky situation OP (reminds me of the story I see on local news every so often, of brides who can’t get their dresses that they paid for when the bridal store suddenly goes out of business with no notice).
Before you take this next step - which, let's face it, is a small amount, and, no, there is no guarantee you'll be paid - wait a reasonable amount of time. The family is probably still shell-shocked on a personal level, and it will take them a few months to even start thinking about the business. Don't get all huffy at a time like this, especially over such a minor amount.
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