Need help...Maybe some legal...

[Butts]

A good friend of mine from work has a stepdaughter who's father died last week from a long battle with cancer. As it turns out the man didn't have a whole lot to his name and owed several creditors and the govt. an awful lot of money. He had been living single for some time and the moneys owed are supposed to be going away as even the state had to pay for the funeral.
This is where the story gets interesting... Apparently while my friend and his stepdaughter were cleaning out his apartment they found several totes of memorabilia, some dating back as far as the early 1900's. Just to list a few there are pictures of his father and grandfather with Mickey Mantle that are autographed as well as bats autographed by Mantle and Ruth, several collections of baseball cards as far back as they can go and all in mint condition. There are several game balls some signed by a few different World Series teams. As you can see there is an awful lot of memories and money being stored in these totes.
As far as they know nobody knows anything about all of these things and they don't want anyone to find out and end up losing it all to creditors to pay off his debts. His daughter needs some help in figuring out what she should do with all of this stuff and whether she should hang onto it for a while or try getting rid of some of it gradually so as not to bring attention to herself.
If she were to try and sell off some of this stuff she needs to know where would be a trustworthy outlet to try and do this?
My friend mentioned contacting a lawyer but I told him to wait so I could pose these questions on here and try to get him some good advise rather than bring any attention to themselves just yet.
Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Tom

 

[ajoytoy]

maybe a local sports memorabilia store owner would want some of it...you could try to sell it on ebay once you get it appraised of its value and authenticity...thats the 2 things i could think of

 

[The Sponge]

They aready commited the first sin by telling you. Nothing against you but if this story is true they are opening themselves up to problems already. This gets around im sure a robbery is just around the corner. I would put these in a safe deposit box, take my time and decide from there. don't go to any local mem shop. You might run into the wrong type of guy. I would wait it out and find a lawyer who they know very well. this is like telling someone you hit the lottery and you have all the money hidden in your house.

 

[buddy]

The Sponge,

Very good advice.

 

[SixFive]

I'm sure the estate is going to probate? Is the friend's stepdaughter the executor? Was their a will?

I would say the only way these things can be discovered is if she tells them about it.

 

[Jake DeNiro]

As hush as possible for robbery reasons, and I wouldn't go to some card dealer. I dealt in cards for many years and I'll tell I knew some real beauties that wouldn't have thought twice about screwing someone out of their valuables. A crooked dealer seeing what they have and being able to read the type of people they are by showing they know nothing about the stuff would be like shark to a human....finished. I agree with what The Sponge had said. I haven't dealt in cards since 1995, but I imagine that if they were to do abit of research on reputable memorabilia auction dealers, that would probably be the best way to go about it as far as selling the stuff. Put it away in a real safe place, take the time researching, and go from there. They would tell them exactly what they have and also give their take on what to list it for. GL and :nono: talking about it.