What is your take on this?

[MaBelle]

My youngest sister and her dh had an extensive collection of books signed by authors.  I have no idea what it's worth.  When little sis (#3) divorced she convinced sis #2 to store her books for her, which #2 did.  Not only that, but #2 moved those books four times from house to house, paid for it herself, cost quite a bit.  #3 was asked, pleaded with, threatened and begged to get her books off #2's hand which she never did.  It's been years.  Now #2 lives 8 hours away and #3 wants her books or money for them.  

Problem is #2 has consigned a lot of them and received very little money back, not near enough to cover the trouble of keeping them.  I say #3 has forfeited the right to them because of taking advantage of a loving sister.   This sister would break her neck for us and is always living paycheck to paycheck and really needed the money.

#3 is a bit self centered and now remarried with plenty, plenty of money.  Whaddaya think?

[moonflower]

#2 should have said to #3 when she was tired of keeping them, "either get these books or I will sell them/give them away/ consign them."

did she say something like that and #3 relinquished the right to them?

[SKL]

Hard to say here - did #2 warn #3 that she was going to consign the books?  Did she at least keep the ones with author signatures?

I don't think #3 has an action against #2, because she was really irresponsible herself.  But if they were sold without fair warning, then #2 should know she was in the wrong too.

[Innisfree]

I'm not sure I understand. Did sister #2 put the books up for consignment because sister #3 asked her to do so? 

Or did #2 get tired of storing the books and put them up for consignment without asking #3? 

But, you know-- in either case, really -- people before things.

Most books, even signed, aren't worth much. If these were, and #3 wanted them back, she should have made arrangements and gotten them back. 

It would have been best for #2 to give a final warning before selling the books, but both sisters need to realize the relationship is more important than the books. #3 should say "I'm so sorry I made you haul them around, of course you should keep the money." And # 2 should say "I'm so sorry you still wanted the books, I had no idea." And that should be the end of it.

Edited January 10, 2019 by Innisfree

[Arcadia]

I think both sisters are in the wrong. Your youngest sister for being selfish and taking advantage of your second sister. Your second sister however should have dump the books back to your youngest sister when she made her first house move. Not move four times and pay for moving costs, and I am assuming sold the books before giving youngest sister an ultimatum. When your second sister “threatened”, did she explicitly say she would sell the books?

For example my parents are keeping some of my stuff for me because we move homes more often than they are likely to. If my parents find a retirement home they like, they could just let me know the moving and storage costs for my items (which could fit into a large bank deposit box). It would be weird if my parents sell my stuff without letting me know explicitly and giving me no chance to say go ahead or provide payment for them to store my stuff in a bank deposit box or with any of my trustworthy cousins who would keep my stuff for a token “storage rent” at their large homes.

[Farrar]

I'm with Arcadia - they're both in the wrong. I don't think there's an easy answer to this.

Obviously #3 took advantage and is now being selfish. But by the same token, I'm not clear if #2 was explicit about having sold the books. I honestly, when I got to that part of the story, felt my eyebrows go up. Like, yeah, she'd said, take care of this or else... but had she said, I'm literally on my way to sell these? The whole thing just bespeaks a really bad relationship between the two of them. And poor communication. Where were they living when all this happened?

My aunt and uncle were storing my mother's piano for years. My parents got divorced. They told my father that she needed to come get the piano or they'd sell it because they were moving. He said, I have nothing to do with it. He never told her. They sold it. The money was never seen. It wasn't aunt and uncle's fault. Or really my father's exactly (though, oy). And my mother had been taking advantage for them keeping it for ages. But really... I still feel sad that she lost the piano even though no one was fully to blame. It was just bad communication and a lot of assumptions. My first thought is that something like that has gone on.

[MaBelle]

Bwahaha, #2 never threatened #3, that would be me, #1!!!  

We're all on speaking terms but I was tired of #2 being taken advantage of.

Little sis is lazy and entitled.  Love her anyway, but siding with middle sis.

[Tanaqui]

My take on this is that you should support both your sisters but refuse to take a side. If they bring it up, just say "I don't want to talk about that. That's between you and Sis, keep me out of it" and then immediately change the subject.

...though from your more recent comment, it looks like it's too late for that advice. Good luck.