Look Before They Land

Over at Unclutterer is a reader question with a more interesting answer than I expected, regarding the storage of someone else's possessions:

What you legally can and cannot do with someone's stuff stored in your home varies by jurisdiction. It is also based on the relationship of the people in question. For example, former spouses are treated differently from landlord/tenant relationships. The actual items in storage may also influence what you can legally do with them. For example, cars and high value items like jewelry may be treated differently from clothing and low value household goods.

Do not act hastily to dispose of Robert's stuff. You could be sued or accused of theft. It is unfortunate that this could be the case especially since you were trying to do Robert a favour.

This certainly stands to reason. However, a preexisting relationship and sympathy might keep one from thinking of it, even if one has strong personal boundaries in the first place. Perhaps a good second line of defense when thinking about helping someone is to consider what could go wrong if one were helping a stranger or ended up doing so for longer than expected, and acting accordingly. Some people are flakier than they appear, and everyone has free will.

-- CAV