Who you are · Before Anyone Is Appointed
Somebody Died and Nobody Has Authority Yet
The hardest moment. The house is vulnerable, everybody is grieving, and legally nobody yet has authority to do very much.
No fee to talk it through, and no client details needed to start. If the timing is urgent, call rather than email.
Witnessed
Inventory signed by two attendants and by you
Named
Access limited to individuals you name in writing
1983
Operating on the Galt Ocean Mile since
Honoured
Valid legal process, and we publish that
The gap between death and appointment
Appointment takes time, and the property is exposed during exactly that period. Families often respond by one person taking things "for safekeeping" — which is well intentioned, entirely undocumented, and the origin of a great many later disputes.
What actually helps in this window
- Secure the house physically. Change locks if keys are unaccounted for.
- Photograph rooms as they are, dated, before anything moves.
- Do not distribute anything, however clear the promise seemed.
- Get the appointment moving — talk to a probate attorney early.
- Agree as a family that nothing leaves until there is authority.
The gap nobody has authority over
There is a window between a death and an appointment when the property is most at risk and nobody has clear authority. The house may be empty and its address is now effectively public. Family members hold keys. The person named in the will has not been appointed yet, so their authority does not exist. Meanwhile items are being tidied, taken as keepsakes, or simply moved, usually with no bad intent and no record at all.
This is the hardest period to help with and we would rather set expectations honestly than imply otherwise. We cannot take instructions from someone with no authority, because doing so would make us a party to whatever dispute follows. What generally can work is deposit by someone acting under a documented arrangement made before the death, or an early conversation with counsel about what is possible in the interim. The single most useful thing anyone can do in that window is photograph and list what is present, before it starts moving.
How we handle it
- 01We can explain what we do and what a collection will involve.
- 02We can be ready to move as soon as authority exists.
- 03We cannot collect property before somebody has authority to instruct.
- 04We can talk to your attorney about sequencing.
Photographs taken on a phone, dated, before anything moves, are enormously valuable and cost nothing. Even an imperfect record made in the first week is worth more than a perfect one made in the second month.
Said plainly
Where we stop
We cannot collect estate property before somebody has authority to instruct us. That rule frustrates people and it is the same rule that stops one relative instructing us ahead of everybody else.
Common questions
- Can you secure the house now?
- Not before somebody has authority to instruct. That rule protects everyone with an interest.
- What can we do today?
- Secure the property physically, photograph everything dated, distribute nothing, and get the appointment moving.
- Someone is taking things. What now?
- Speak to a probate attorney urgently. A court can act faster than an ordinary appointment.
- How fast can you move once we have authority?
- Collections are scheduled. If it is urgent, call rather than email.
What we do
Securing Estate Contents
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Witnessed Inventory
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Custody Through Probate
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Bank Box Transfer
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Contested Estates
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Release & Distribution
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Tell us what needs to move.
What, from where, and roughly when. You do not need an inventory to start the conversation, and if the job belongs with an armored carrier we will say so on the call.