Contractor finds 200k in cash in a wall of reno

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Greg Swartz

Greg Swartz

Senior Member
Location
Colorado Springs, Colorado
It's in the wall of the HomeOWNER's house... hmmm... who does it belong too??? I just cant figure it out...

It does not matter who finds it... you are still on the premesis of the HO... it belongs to them.

And the 21 relatives... how did they even have a shot at it?

I would have been more than happy with the 10%.

Just give me 10% of the old bills... they would be worth far more than the face value. There are too many collectors that would pay 2x, 5x, or more.

The contractor had no right to claim ANY portion of the money... none.

I can't do "finders...keepers" in a store, so why would it be any different at a home?
 
ivsenroute

ivsenroute

Senior Member
Location
Florida
Greg Swartz said:
It's in the wall of the HomeOWNER's house... hmmm... who does it belong too??? I just cant figure it out...

It does not matter who finds it... you are still on the premesis of the HO... it belongs to them.

And the 21 relatives... how did they even have a shot at it?

I would have been more than happy with the 10%.

Just give me 10% of the old bills... they would be worth far more than the face value. There are too many collectors that would pay 2x, 5x, or more.

The contractor had no right to claim ANY portion of the money... none.

I can't do "finders...keepers" in a store, so why would it be any different at a home?
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Great answer, and Semper Fi there "shower shoe"
 
steelersman

steelersman

Senior Member
Location
Lake Ridge, VA
Greg Swartz said:
And the 21 relatives... how did they even have a shot at it?

I can't do "finders...keepers" in a store, so why would it be any different at a home?
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The relatives deserve a portion of it at the very least.

And the difference from a store and a house is a store is selling things to make money, and a house is not (not sure why that needs explaining) so of course you can't expect to "find" something in a store and claim it. If it weren't for the contractor then the money wouldn't have ever been found, at least not by the homeowner. So I think the contractor should receive a portion of the money. I have yet to read an honest reply of "I would want some of the money, or I would skim some off the top for myself first" , but I'm still reading some posts so I'll see.....:)_
 
cowboyjwc

cowboyjwc

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Staff member
Location
Simi Valley, CA
He was offered 10% and said he wanted 40%. I would have taken the 10%. The relatives would never have known about it if it hadn't gone to court and she's now saying that all of the money is gone and she's in hawk up to her eye balls. Greed is a funny thing.

I'm not sure that anyone could give an honest answer until it happens to them. What if one of your kids was sick? Your wife? Your folks were losing their house?

I once heard an interesting question asked. If you found drugs, you know it's drugs, you know you can sell it for $100,000 and you are not going to be caught. What do you do?
 
growler

growler

Senior Member
Location
Atlanta,GA
cowboyjwc said:
I once heard an interesting question asked. If you found drugs, you know it's drugs, you know you can sell it for $100,000 and you are not going to be caught. What do you do?
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I don't deal in drugs for any amount of money. May as well just shoot the people outright as sell them poison. But if I find a large amount of money and the real owner is long dead I would probably just keep it and keep my mouth shut. If the owner is still alive I would make an effort to return said money.

Edit: I will add that so far I haven't had to make this decision. I have found a wallet with a few bucks in it and it was return to it's rightful owner.
 
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growler

growler

Senior Member
Location
Atlanta,GA
cowboyjwc said:
Yeah me too. Even drove it over to the guys house. He sure was thrilled to see me.:smile:
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I just did a check on an inflation calculator to see how much 182K from the late 1930's would be worth in today's money. I used the year of 1938 and 2008 and it appears that the 182K from that time would be worth about 2.8 million in todays inflated world. Very few people lose that kind of money and just forget where they put it. I'll bet there is an interesting story as to where all that money came from to start with ( you know, in cash ). ;)
 
Rockyd

Rockyd

Senior Member
Location
Nevada
Occupation
Retired after 40 years as an electrician.
It belongs to the HO. If they care to offer up a 10% reward...cool. I would only tell the home owner, it is up to them to tell who they want to tell. I operate on fact that it's not a lie if I don't say anything, it is their private business as to why money might be in the wall, it's not mine to ponder. Besides that, if they talk, an it's a positive ligh on you, look at the lead potntial!

As far as it being drug money? Can't tell. I remember a story about two guys in Florida being charged with having "drug money". Sure enough, there was Cocaine on every bill. So the sharp laywer had a court appointed person go get money from a bank in town, sure enough, it was all tainted too. Circumstantial evidence is often weak, and should help to make the case, not be the case maker. That said though, if there is prima facie evidence, to support the facts, let's lock the criminals up. You can't know what makes other tick.

I'd be tickled pink to receive $20,000 for for the find. Favorite charities come to mind, at 10%:).
 
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480sparky

480sparky

Senior Member
Location
Iowegia
I think there'sa legal precedence that states if previous ownership of the money can be proven, then it legally belongs to that person.

In other words, if the descendents of the person who hid it there can prove it belonged to their ancestor, then they can lay legal claim to all of it.

If that fails, then it (and all of it) belongs to the homeowner. If the HO wants to be generous, and offer the guy a stake, then that's his/her choice.

Years ago, I had an elderly neighbor decide it was time to sell the house and move to a skilled-care facility. Auctioneer spent hours in the basement sorting tons of boxes of stuff. Poor woman never knew what was down there. Come to find out, her husband, who worked for the railroad for years, had been stashing railroad stocks in the bottom of the boxes. He had passed away years ago, and his widow never knew about it.

Come the day of the auction, folks were buying boxes of this and that.... household stuff like pots and pans, old dishes, whatnot. In the bottom of the boxes were thousands of dollars worth of paper. Some found it, and kept quiet, but most who knew her returned it as it rightfully belonged to her.
 
S

Sparky555

Senior Member
steelersman said:
I have yet to read an honest reply of "I would want some of the money, or I would skim some off the top for myself first" , but I'm still reading some posts so I'll see.....:)_
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No wonder contractors get a bad reputation. The correct answer is:

It doesn't belong to me.
It's not mine.
Taking something that's not mine is stealing.
A finder's reward is a gift to be grateful for, not a requirement.
 
Fulthrotl

Fulthrotl

~Autocorrect is My Worst Enema.~
Location
HB, CA (19 Hrs. 22 Min. from Winged Horses)
Occupation
E
Rockyd said:
As far as it being drug money? Can't tell. I remember a story about two guys in Florida being charged with having "drug money". Sure enough, there was Cocaine on every bill. So the sharp laywer had a court appointed person go get money from a bank in town, sure enough, it was all tainted too. Circumstantial evidence is often weak, and should help to make the case, not be the case maker.
Click to expand...

truth be told, with the current sampling and testing technology available
today, i'd be willing to bet there aren't very many $100 bills in circulation
that don't have cocaine residue on them..... and back in the 1970's, i can
assure you that there weren't ANY $100 bills without drug residue on them.

nope. not a one. my deeply held suspicion is that god created cocaine to
teach electricians they were making too much money.:rolleyes:

most likely the money came from the bank panics and closures of
the early 1930's, and the person who hid it passed away, obviously
telling no one.:smile:

many people who lived thru the 1930's were pretty scarred by the
experience... when my mom died at 83, we had to spend 12 hours
going thru a 2 bedroom house, looking for hidden money.. little bits
of it everywhere.... $100 bills hidden in with paid phone bills, you'd be
going thru old papers, and find $100's and $50's... found a 1 carat
diamond buried at the bottom of a box of quaker oats... cereal had
to be sifted, ice cream melted, every piece of paper in two filing
cabinets opened and unfolded...

and bank accounts.... she had opened and closed over 80 bank
accounts in the 6 years before she died, afraid someone was going
to steal her money... playing a shell game with her savings.
straightening all that out took 3 months.

most depression kids were hoarders.
my mom sure was.
sounds like this one was as well.


randy
 
Fulthrotl

Fulthrotl

~Autocorrect is My Worst Enema.~
Location
HB, CA (19 Hrs. 22 Min. from Winged Horses)
Occupation
E
480sparky said:
I think there's a legal precedence that states if previous ownership of the money can be proven, then it legally belongs to that person.
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at least as far as maritime law is concerned, that is true, but maritime law
also awards salvage rights of 10% to the finder or salvage company.
(that's of the pre salvage value, i believe)

i'd guess that under the circumstances, 10% being split by the finders
and 90% going to the heirs would be appropriate... and as mister ito
mentioned in an unrelated post, found objects are fully taxable as income.

i'm sure the irs came looking for their share of that woman's money....
poor thing, losing $60,000 of it in a shoebox:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

i suspect the IRS will not accept her verson of that, and will want their
third.... stupidity is not tax deductible.... i am walking proof of that.

randy
 
steelersman

steelersman

Senior Member
Location
Lake Ridge, VA
Sparky555 said:
No wonder contractors get a bad reputation. The correct answer is:

It doesn't belong to me.
It's not mine.
Taking something that's not mine is stealing.
A finder's reward is a gift to be grateful for, not a requirement.
Click to expand...
Not really. Contractors get a bad rep from not completing jobs on time, not completing jobs, and shoddy work, not from finding money in a customers wall and showing it to her and hoping for fair share. I think I would be satisfied with 10%, however on the other hand if I hadn't found it, the HO would get 0%, which then makes me think 40% or even so bold a number as 50% should be a fair split.
 
Rockyd

Rockyd

Senior Member
Location
Nevada
Occupation
Retired after 40 years as an electrician.
I think I would be satisfied with 10%, however on the other hand if I hadn't found it, the HO would get 0%, which then makes me think 40% or even so bold a number as 50% should be a fair split.
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Your karma will be your dogma.

As being a part time property rights activist at times, I'd hate to have you writing law.

Here is the 5th Amendment -


No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

I'm no expert, but it seems to me that it says what is yours, is yours, whether you know you possess it, or not.
 
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O

ohm

Senior Member
Location
Birmingham, AL
This is an interesting thread.

I wonder if the folks who said keep the bucks and run condem the cops who stumble on cash from drugs, robbery etc. and pocket a little to pay for the baby's operation? Actually, why would anyone risk their life every day for close to minimum wage?

I say if you didn't take it in it, ain't yours.
 
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