Storage facility refusing to let us into our paid-up storage locker?
March 15, 2016 11:25 AM   Subscribe

My family has a storage locker in California. My dad died in 2011, and his name was on the lease, but we all have our names on it for access and have been continuing to use it. The facility has been aware of my dad's death since 2011. My mom is dying of cancer and wants her jewelry and her old dolls. There is a new lady in the front office who has suddenly decided she can't let us in anymore "because you have to go through probate because your dad is dead."

She has not only put a second padlock on it, but has called the police on us. The police told them they can't keep us out if we have the code and the key. But the facility is refusing to take the lock off and the police said that's a civil matter and they can't help us with that. The office lady's reason. "Your father is dead and his name is the only one on the lease, even though your name is listed for access, so you can't go in until his estate goes through probate."

Aside from the fact that this will take more time than my mom has, my dad left no property and the only thing in his name is this locker, which my mom has been paying for since 2011.

They won't let us in, but if we stop paying for it they will seize the contents and auction them off. My mom does not have months to spend going through legal channels.

Any advice? There is not a lot of money for a lawyer. Any way to make them back off without a lawyer? This is maddening and my mom is upset and she is a dying woman who just wants her stuff and doesn't have time to wait for a storage locker to go through probate.

They didn't make us aware of any of this in advance. I showed up with a truck (the second time we've done this) to get rid of junk, and they refused to let us in. I had to pay $150 to cancel the truck. They also put the lock on without any notice, after the police had told them they can't keep us off the property.

Sorry if this is long but I'm very frustrated. My mom is really upset and I want to take care of this quickly.

Thanks for any advice.
posted by OolooKitty to Law & Government (20 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: Is this a chain, can you escalate? Is this woman a manager? Have you spoken with anyone else at the facility?

Also, who is executor in the will, or are you in a situation where there is no will, and your mother would need to be the point of contact in probate? It's not clear from the question, and getting the one account changed, if there is an executor, should not take months of legal channels.
posted by kellyblah at 11:34 AM on March 15, 2016 [10 favorites]


Best answer: Maybe a local news outlet would be interested in covering this story.
posted by dywypi at 11:34 AM on March 15, 2016 [21 favorites]


Can you go in with a cop and a set of bolt cutters? Get your mom's treasured stuff, deal with the legal process later.
posted by phunniemee at 11:34 AM on March 15, 2016 [10 favorites]


Best answer: I hope California estate lawyers will chime in with specific time estimates.

The first step in probate is for an executor to be named. The executor will have access to the locker. You won't have to completely "go through probate," which presumably would take awhile.
posted by JimN2TAW at 11:35 AM on March 15, 2016 [3 favorites]


Can you not get into the facility or just the storage unit itself? Because if the barrier is just the extra lock, I think I'd approach this with industrial bolt cutters and a U-Haul.
posted by cecic at 11:35 AM on March 15, 2016 [21 favorites]


Is this a small local place or a chain? If a chain, escalate up through corporate. If a small local place, is it 24 hour access? If so, show up with a bolt cutter when it's not staffed "break in" to your own unit, clear it out, and let the chips fall where they may. Leave them $20 to cover the lock and a note stating that if they want to contact you to talk to your lawyer. If you're lease is paid up, what can they do?
posted by cosmicbandito at 11:35 AM on March 15, 2016 [7 favorites]


Best answer: The office lady's reason. "Your father is dead and his name is the only one on the lease, even though your name is listed for access, so you can't go in until his estate goes through probate."

This is more or less legit, I'm sorry to say. It was your dad who authorized the family to have access to his storage unit. That authorization ended when your dad died.
posted by JimN2TAW at 11:42 AM on March 15, 2016 [6 favorites]


Just to be clear, does this mean your dad's estate was never settled?
posted by FencingGal at 11:42 AM on March 15, 2016


Best answer: I am absolutely not a lawyer, not Californian, nor is this legal advice.

I see two possible avenues here: Talking to front desk lady's supervisors, and legal tactics.

Who owns the storage facility? is there literally anybody else you could talk to who works there who might be more sympathetic?

Did your dad have a will (testate) or did he die without one (intestate)? That should go a really long way to determining your dads estate status. Which, honestly, should have been out of probate after 5 years (in my non legal opinion) An intestate status could be more complicated, as California law seems to depend on the status of children... http://www.ca-trusts.com/intestate.html

I'm really not equipped to debate the legalities of Dad's locker rental, vs a probably settled probate, vs mom may or may not own the items due to community property laws....

Can all the children sign an affidavit saying the probate is settled to their satisfaction? That it is, in fact, legally Mom's items she is trying to retrieve, and that everybody is ok with it?

Office lady does possibly have a legal point she's standing on, but the situation is murky and depends on testate status, probate court, division of property, and what exactly legally happened around your dads death.


I'm sorry you have to go through this!
posted by Jacen at 11:47 AM on March 15, 2016 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Thanks, this is all great. We were told by the cop that it would go badly for us if we cut the lock. Thank you, I have some good ideas about how to proceed now!
posted by OolooKitty at 12:22 PM on March 15, 2016


IANAL, but I would argue that accepting your mother's checks for five years shows the storage facility has already acknowledged the informal inheritance of your father's property. California doesn't require you to go through probate, and nobody has raised any legal claims to his estate in 5 years. That should be sufficient to prove that your mother is his rightful heir.

Again, not a legal argument to take in front of the judge. But perhaps convincing enough to take with her manager.
posted by politikitty at 12:40 PM on March 15, 2016 [18 favorites]


There may have been a legal incident with a different storage locker that's driving this behavior. If this is a chain/franchise, it's especially possible that something happened at a different facility and an edict came down from the corporate headquarters that the woman in question is trying to enforce, possibly without understanding all the terminology. She might just a nasty person on a power trip, but her behavior sounds like she's afraid of something.

The easiest way to resolve this is to find out exactly what they want done to show that your father's estate authorizes you to have access to the property - in writing - and do it. It's not clear from your statement what her stated requirement means - if your father died in 2011, there should already be an executor, who should have the legal authority to take care of this.
posted by Candleman at 1:17 PM on March 15, 2016 [8 favorites]


Is this place open 7 days a week? My first approach would be to scope the place out and see if I could "sneak in" (with bolt cutters) (or just pick the lock, most people can manage most locks with a little practice) when new policy lady is off for the day or even at lunch.
posted by Mitheral at 1:20 PM on March 15, 2016 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Hey I literally just had to do this! Like last Saturday.

Bring a death certificate and a copy of your dad's will. If he died intestate, get notarized signatures from the interested parties that they waive the rights to the storage locker to you/your mom. If an executor is named, get the executor to separate that portion of the estate. If your mom is the executor, she should just bring the paperwork and come with you.
posted by corb at 1:43 PM on March 15, 2016 [9 favorites]


Best answer: IANAL, but if I remember correctly from serving as my uncle's executor in California, probate is not required unless the estate is over either 100K or 150K (I forget which). Talking to an estate lawyer would probably set you back $300-400, but given the urgency, might be worth it.
posted by bricoleur at 8:35 PM on March 15, 2016


Mitheral, cecic, and cosmicbandito have the right idea.

Personally i would destroy the lock and prepare to deal with whatever they wanted to do at that point, like paying the broken-lock fee. At the place i rent that fee is WAY less than the rent. They have this fee defined incase they have to drill your lock, or you break it(like jam it with a snapped off key in it etc). It's like $75-80 vs $200+ or whatever.

I wouldn't bother with picking it, because i'd want to bring like 6 people and empty the thing as fast as possible. You want the door open in 5 seconds.

Is the place staffed 24/7? The one i rent at has, or at least had, longer hours than the office was open. Show up when they're gone and cut the damn thing off. Or when some weekend person who wasn't around for any of this is there.

No one is going to ride in a cop car here unless they scream at the police or get physical. I'm not a lawyer obviously, but i've seen a lot of dumb stuff like this go down. Breaking stuff is not automatically jail, or even usually.

Bring proof the bill is paid up, the keys to your lock, and any other paperwork you have. Anyone called is going to be used to dealing with "person who didn't pay "stealing" their stuff" and you want to diffuse that one instantly.

even though your name is listed for access

Is really important here. You're not "trespassing" or anything, you're just damaging their property.

Cut the lock, not the door. They will try and be assholes and charge you for the ENTIRE door or something silly like that if you do at all.

Expect some really dumb bill from the storage place you might have to either pay or fight with a bunch of tacked on arbitrary fees that don't involve the price of the lock, or putting a new one on from their pile of locks in a box in the back room.
posted by emptythought at 9:30 PM on March 15, 2016 [1 favorite]


I would advise strongly against cutting the lock and flashmobbing the unit or trying to find a time when staff is not there to cut the lock.
Largely because you: 1) Know the staff is prone to calling the cops and 2) You have been advised by said cops that cutting the lock will end badly for you.
posted by Karaage at 9:38 PM on March 15, 2016 [6 favorites]


Cops may be a reliable source of info on how they will treat you if they are called back when you cut the lock, but that's very different from legal advice.
posted by werkzeuger at 8:51 AM on March 18, 2016


Any update?
posted by blueberry at 6:50 PM on March 27, 2016


Response by poster: Thanks for all the answers! I have investigated probate and the other suggestions, and found that what we need is a notarized form that transfers the property to us, using his death certificate. It's a really easy process as it turns out. I wouldn't have found this out without investigating the answers in this thread, so thanks very much! The storage people were wrong about what they had to have, and I am in the process of getting the paperwork together and presenting it at the unit.

At which time I am going to empty it out and leave a horrible YELP review. They have handled this really badly and horribly rudely.

Thanks SO MUCH for the answers.
posted by OolooKitty at 8:33 AM on April 15, 2016 [1 favorite]


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