What we do · Securing Estate Contents
The House With Several Sets of Keys
An empty house full of a lifetime's possessions, several relatives with keys, and a probate process that may run a year. This is how estate property quietly disappears, and almost none of it involves a burglar.
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 window is the first fortnight
By the time a personal representative is formally appointed, weeks may have passed and the house may have had visitors. Nobody set out to take anything. Items get borrowed, kept as mementos, or removed by someone who genuinely believes they were promised them — and none of it is recorded.
What we do, and why in that order
- Itemized and photographed in the house, room by room, before anything moves.
- Two attendants, so nobody is ever alone with the property.
- Sealed on site, with seal numbers written onto your copy.
- Held in the estate's name, access limited to named individuals.
- Nothing released without documented authority.
How we handle it
- 01Confirm your authority to instruct before anything is touched.
- 02Walk the property with you and agree what is in scope.
- 03Inventory and photograph room by room, with you present.
- 04Seal in your presence and record the numbers on both copies.
- 05Transport and sign into the vault under the estate's name.
- 06Provide the full record to you and to anyone you name.
Do this early, ideally before the extended family has had a weekend in the house. Personal representatives often hesitate because removing things feels like an accusation. It is the opposite — the inventory protects the representative from an accusation, and it protects the family from a suspicion that never quite goes away.
Said plainly
Where we stop
We will not remove property on the instruction of someone who cannot show authority over the estate. If entitlement is contested, that is resolved before we arrive.
Common questions
- Who can instruct a collection?
- The personal representative, executor, or someone with documented court authority. We will ask to see it.
- What if the family disagrees?
- Then the property sits in the vault, itemized and untouched, until it is resolved. That is usually what everyone wants once tempers cool.
- Is it not aggressive to move things out?
- It reads that way and it is the reverse. The inventory protects the representative and removes the suspicion.
- How quickly can you come?
- Collections are scheduled. If a house is being cleared this week, call rather than email.
Who you are
Personal Representatives
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Probate Attorneys
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Beneficiaries
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Trustees
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Before Anyone Is Appointed
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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.