[lawschool21]

I am wanting to know about rights for personal belongings. Here's the situation: My friend moves out of his house that he shared wit his ex-girlfriend. That same girlfriend and his family helped him move out. He moved his belongings to his sisters house. He was leaving out of town the next day so everything was still in bags and boxes. While he was out of town his belongings were gone through and there were some items found of his ex-girlfriends. She took those as well as some stuff that was his. Some of which he can prove with receipts through eBay. He had not signed a lease or anything yet because he didn't know how long he would be there and he left to go out of town. Can people legally go through his stuff? I'm borderline on this one. Where do your rights come in?

[ScottGem]

This is borderline. There should be a presumption of privacy which the sister violated. On the other hand, the belongings were left with the sister with no conditions.

[excon]

Hello law:

I don't think it's borderline. I think it's theft. When the sister took control of the belongings, she also accepted responsibility for them. In legal terms, it's called a bailment.

No matter how a bailment arises, the bailee (the sister) has both a duty of care and duty to re-deliver the bailment in its original condition. The bailee is expected to take (as a minimum) reasonable precautions to safeguard the property.

excon

[ScottGem]

The reason I thought it borderline is because the OP just the stuff without any word, but I agree the sister had assumed responsibility for the items.