Are pictures of me as a child my property or someone else s? The pictures are currently in my possession and were acquired lawfully.

The person that took them and paid to develop them owns them... or the people they gave them to. Notice I did not say LOAN them to.

If someone loaned them to you... you have to give them back as they own them.

Just because you are a subject of them doesn't make you automatically the owner.

Why are you asking this specifically? If someone else owned them why don't you have copies made and keep the copies..

There is more to this than you are telling us. Particualrly since you are trying to hide under the umbrella of "acquired lawfully".

The courts are who determine what is and isn't lawful. Can you give us more details... because they are quite important in this case.

Often this question revolves around the contents of a parental home after they are both gone. Perhaps you are or were living there and took what you thought should belong to you? It all depends on how the executor feels about every little memento. If he or she is a lawyer you will all be told to touch nothing so that an inventory can be made. If it's a sibling you can often work this out informally.

Basically however they came into your hands depends on who owns them. I 100% guarantee if this goes to Court the Court will order one of the parties to make professional copies and furnish them to the other party.

See it all the time when an estate is involved.

Depends on who took them, who paid for them, how you got them (as I said).

You did not say why and how this is important and what is happening.

But the person who took them, and their legal heir and the person over their estate owns them. You are merely the subject of the photo.

So if your parents or other family member took them, they belong to them, not you.

If they died, they belong to the estate, not you.
Next if you did not have permission to take them, even if legally in the house, you do no have them legally.
If someone loaned them to you, they are still not yours legally and would have to be returned. ** you can have copies made almost anywhere.

If the person who owned them died, you can go though probate court and ask for photos of you be given to you.

The reason for my question is because there is now, and has been for some time, a rift in the family. They were discovered at an estate of deceased relative. I wish to hold on to pictures where I am the subject and was wondering who actually owned the rights to them.

Thank you all for your help

@smoothy- "The courts are who determine what is and isn't lawful." Get smart! Courts only have jurisdiction if you allow them jurisdiction.

the reason for my question is because there is now, and has been for some time, a rift in the family. they were discovered at an estate of deceased relative. i wish to hold on to pictures where i am the subject and was wondering who actually owned the rights to them.

thank you all for your help

@smoothy- "The courts are who determine what is and isn't lawful." Get smart! Courts only have jurisdiction if you allow them jurisdiction.


This is totally unnecessary - "Get smart"? Smoothy is a valued member of AMHD and what he said is true. If there is a dispute over the photos it WILL end up in Court (if anyone cares to take it that far) and the Court WILL make the decision. No one else can resolve ownership of the photos.

How do you propose to resolve this without involving the Courts? Apparently talking it over hasn't settled the issue or you wouldn't be posting here.

How did you "lawfully acquire" them? If they were part of an estate, and it appears that they were, the Court already has jurisdiction. You can't assume possessions as your own following a death unless the Will says you can. I'm not reading that here.

The Court handling probate - and that varies by area - needs to be made aware of the situation and will order who owns the photos. I still think the person who ultimately receives them will be told to make copies for other interested people.

(As a side - you say you got them from an estate, "legally." You inherited them by Will?)

the reason for my question is because there is now, and has been for some time, a rift in the family. they were discovered at an estate of deceased relative. i wish to hold on to pictures where i am the subject and was wondering who actually owned the rights to them.

thank you all for your help

@smoothy- "The courts are who determine what is and isn't lawful." Get smart! Courts only have jurisdiction if you allow them jurisdiction.

That's not how it works... The Upper level courts deal with that question all the time... and not just the Supreme Court

Joe Average doesn't get to make that decision... some Judge does.

Hell we would have a fraction the lawyers we have now... as well as a fraction of the courts if everything really was cut and dry. AND obvious.

Hell we would have a fraction the lawyers we have now... as well as a fraction of the courts if everything really was cut and dry. AND obvious.

This gives me the impression you know what I am talking about, it is cut and dry... just not obvious

Thank you all for your help. I have decided how to handle the situation

Heck... if there are disputes over photos... get professional copies made for everyone.

It's a small price to pay to make everyone happy. Even IF you are in the right (which is not certain apparently). If you aren't... get the copies made... and hand back the originals. In a frame you can't tell new copy from an old photo. And it saves you from getting in more trouble.

Yes, the photos are part of the estate, if you took them without permission it is theft. The person over the estate can order them back, even attempt criminal charges if they want.
They can get the probate judge to order you to return them, and hold you in contempt. This happens every day over dishes, photos, dolls, funture and more.
You obviously don't have the clue about what happens in probate court.

I don't want others to have copies of photos of me, that is the whole point. We are all equal folks, regardless of what title government officials hold... they are no greater than you and I. for those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, I suggest getting copies of the UCC, Declaration of Independence, and Black's Law Dictionary and get to reading.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." -Declaration of Independence

Really... you are the one here that doesn't have a clue what you can and can't do.

We aren't equal when it comes to many things... including the right to take the property of others purely because you want it.

At this point I believe you TOOK those from an estate you weren't entitled to have... and I doubt they were actually acquired "Lawfully".

Good luck defending yourself in court if you did. You are in for one hell of an education. The hard way.

You don't own the right to your pictures if they weren't yours in the first place.

Being "OF" you doesn't automatically make them yours.

If I happened to have a photo of you ( I don't)... the mere fact of you being in it doesn't make it yours... or you entitled to even ask for it, and definitely not to take them if I refused to give them to you. If you took them without permission... that makes you guilty of theft.

Nothing in the constitution or declaration of independence says you have the right to do that... I'd recommend you reading them again. When I went to school... we were required to MEMORIZE them. And we were tested on if we did or not... and it wasn't a multiple choice test either.

It has NOTHING to do with being equal... it has everything to do with what is and isn't yours... and if you took something that wasn't willed to you, or granted by probate court... then they aren't yours to take. No mater what the subject of the photo.

And based on your answers thus far... Its now becoming clear you took them from someone who had rightful possession and you don't care what the law is or who has the right to them.

Those people that think the laws don't apply to them nearly always lose at trial.


Were you looking for correct answers or just hopeing to find someone that would back up your actions?

Don't be surprised by what might happen next... and no photo is worth THAT.

Small minded pea brains run around dishing out Not helpfuls to people who are right (the guilty party knows who they are)... when THEY are the ones that are not only wrong... but don't have a clue about anything.

They usually find themselves behind bars at some point in their life. A few eventually get a clue and change their ways.

Yes, makes you wonder how he legally got possession of them. While I am sure they don't care.

US Constitution: This is state probate law and does not fall under federal law or constitutional law.

UCC, This is not interstate trade

It is probate law, which is state law.

But even, even if it was Constitutional law, the right to property, this was the property of the person who died, not the property of the person whose photo was taken. As such the property rights followed to the estate which is treated as having its own rights under law. Therefor under the defense given, it still does not belong to the person in the photo.

Interstate trade, OK, lets go out a little further, if the photos were sent out for processing to another state, when the came back they became the property of the buyer, and the process company lost any claim.
The person in the photo had no claim to them.

i dont want others to have copies of photos of me, that is the whole point. we are all equal folks, regardless of what title government officials hold...they are no greater than you and i. for those of you who have no idea what i am talking about, i suggest getting copies of the UCC, Declaration of Independence, and Black's Law Dictionary and get to reading.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." -Declaration of Independence

Sizzle,

I don't want to be as rude as you have been, but you need to do a lot more research. Quoting the Declaration of Independence has very little to do with actual law. The Declaration was a document created to justify what was, essentially, an unlawful act. That of treasonous revolution against the established and prevailing government. I'm not saying revolution wasn't justified, but had the colonies not one, the signers of the Declaration would have likely been hung as traitors.

As has been noted your situation is one of Probate or Estate law. Such law is not part of the US Constitution, so is part of state law. In case of a dispute, it is the Probate court that rules on the distribution of an estate.

Bottom line is if you obtained the photographs legally they are yours. But just the facts that you are the subject of the pictures does not make them yours. If they were part of estate the ONLY thing that would make them yours is if they were directly willed to you or awarded to you as part of a probate court action.

Perhaps if "Sizzle" stopped preaching long enough to answer a question or two SOMEONE would be able to give a 100% answer. In the meantime the history lesson was sort of interesting.

Perhaps if "Sizzle" stopped preaching long enough to answer a question or two SOMEONE would be able to give a 100% answer. In the meantime ..

Like to start with... how they "LAWFULLY" came into possession of the disputed photos. Because that is key to the discussion here.

Something they have thus far danced around saying.

I think we all know the reason they won't give that answer.

... UCC, This is not interstate trade
...

The Uniform Commercial Code is, as it's name implies, a statute that has been enacted in probably all of the states, and it concerns commercial transactions, not necessarily interstate matters.


... but had the colonies not one, the signers of the Declaration would have likely been hung as traitors. ....

Had the colonies not won [the American Revolutionary War]...