When Can I Throw Away Ex-Girlfriend's Things?

Question

She's not even my ex-girlfriend. Let me explain.

This girl my brother was dating was suddenly between apartments right before she left for a few weeks to work a job out of town. We said it was fine if she kept her things here, some of which wound up in our car port. Weeks later, she comes back, she breaks off the relationship, and we still have a lot of her stuff. We get her to come by one day and she gets everything from inside the house, but the bigger furniture is still in the car port.

That's the last we see of her, and we only hear from her after I start sending her messages asking when she is coming for the rest of it, then asking again after weeks pass and she doesn't bother responding. We've been very patient. My own better half has finally lost that patience and is convinced I was either too gentle with the ex- or that she has been taking undue advantage of our kindness.

We've gone back and forth a few times over the months about her retrieving the delinquent possessions, and have finally put down the ultimatum; we're going to toss this stuff if it's still here after the weekend.

The question: Are we within our rights to toss her things if it comes to it? When can I throw away an ex-girlfriend's - or anyone else's - things after they have well worn out their welcome and my hospitality?

Answer 1

depends on your state. Try googling "abandoned property YOURSTATE"



You mentioned "months" so your almost certainly fine, but the morally right thing to do is to contact her and give her a date, like the end of the month, and notify her that if the stuff is still there on the 1st it's being donated to Goodwill (or the city dump, as you prefer)

Answer 2

I'd try to wait like a week or 2 after she stopped replying then message her again, wait a couple days after that, if she still doesn't reply then throw it out lol

Answer 3

Contact an attorney.