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My boss has ostomy & parkinson disease. She has no child. Her husband died a year ago. she doesnt have any relatives or if she have, she doesnt want to get involved with them. I tried to encourage her to reach out with them but always end up into arguments. Telling me that she gave them their part & so. I does all the paper works for her, setting appointment with her accountant & filing her assets, utulility bills & statements of accounts. I also help her with phone calls if she need to make one. In short, i'm like her secretary. and then one day, she asked me to open all her cabinet to look through her closet. To make the story short, she have a box of jewerly. She wants to give it to me so I can give it to my daughter. I told her not to and give it to her relatives or a friend that deserve more that I nor my child. I told her that I'm afraid that when she's gone& someone will sue me accusing of stealing it. She said to me with tearly eyes that she doesnt have any relatives & those are her personal things & she wants me to have as a gratitude of helping her. There's a circumtances that shes begging me to have it because she afraid that someone get it when shes gone. Someone adviced me to take it, because its her will. And just ask her to make a letter as proof that she gave that to me with her signature. But im so scared & afraid. Can someone help me with this? Should i take it? If I will take it, is there any legal advice? Thanks

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Her family will come out of the woodwork at some point. I would suggest that she see her attorney to talk about this. Let her attorney make the decision. My concern is that if the woman has dementia she probably does not understand the value of her jewelry or what the possible implications could be for you down the road when someone realizes the jewelry is gone.
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I assume you're providing paid care for this woman? If not, what's your relationship to her? How long has she been your boss"? Does she have dementia or memory impairment. If the answer to that last question is yes, you might want to think about this very seriously, as well as assess the relationship with her family.

I think you're wise to consider the repercussions and perceptions of accepting gifts from someone who appears to be alienated from her family.
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Wanting to give you her jewelry was a kind gesture from this woman and I agree with GardenArtist that her state of mind is very important. If she has any dementia or cognitive impairment at all my suggestion would be to thank her, tell her how much her gesture means to you, but that you can't take her jewelry right now. Then redirect her to something else.

If her collection of jewelry contains family heirlooms or family pieces you can bet that someone will come out of the woodwork at some point wanting those items.

I commend you wanting to do the right thing. I have no legal advice to give. We don't give legal advice because we're not lawyers but to be on the safe side, if it were me, I'd find a way to graciously turn down her generous gift without hurting her feelings.
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Agree with all the above. Especially since you state that you think she has relatives even if they are not speaking to each other. If she has a lawyer , call him. Does she have a POA? Call them. Does she have a will? Who wrote it. Does she have a safe deposit box? You have so many options. You must not feel right about it . The group here says that the safest thing for you to do is pass on the very generous gifts. At the very least ask her to pick one out and put it aside for you.
With the information you share about her you could face bigger problems: what if the items do disappear and you are accused of "accepting them as gifts." How will you prove otherwise??? I would get this resolved quickly so you are not caught in the middle. No jewelry is worth being accused of something you did not do.
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Have her do a will and list the items in the will leaving them to you.
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