SA Personal Items won't collect

[Whyme]

What are the legal requirements required by me to hand over my separated wife's possessions

Again I have packed everything up she has requested. Not clothes jewelry etc she already has those.

Furniture brick brac photos etc again have been left for her to be collected as I was Working i made arrangements for a friend to be there to help with the removal and to make sure she did not enter the house as she still has house keys refuses to returned.

The abusive texts have now started again.

What are my legal requirements now in returning the items she requested.

 

[Louise4007]

Hi Whyme

Technically, no legal requirement at this stage .. however, it is in your best interests to comply and take steps to allow her to collect her property. This seems to be at the very least, what you have both agreed to temporarily and is a step in the right direction. This is of course unless an AVO (Apprehended Violence Order) is in place whereby she would be entitled to a police escort to collect her property.

Referring to the temporary agreement that you have made between yourselves, you should allow her time to comply with the arrangement, but if either of you feel it will not work, then a lawyer should be engaged to take steps which may include -

1. having a legally enforceable agreement approved by the court in regards to property and financial arrangements; and/or later
2. a consent order and finalisation of the case.

Prior to court proceedings, you will both be required to attend dispute resolution in an attempt to resolve your differences.

 

[Tim W]

What are the legal requirements required by me to hand over my separated wife's possessions

Again I have packed everything up she has requested. Not clothes jewelry etc she already has those.

Furniture brick brac photos etc again have been left for her to be collected as I was Working i made arrangements for a friend to be there to help with the removal and to make sure she did not enter the house as she still has house keys refuses to returned.

The abusive texts have now started again.

What are my legal requirements now in returning the items she requested.

Things that are hers, you have to hand them over.
Failing to do so can be a tort (a "so-called civil wrong") called detinue which (in grossly simplified terms)
is ye olde style lawyer-speak for "unlawfully keeping somebody else's stuff after they ask for it back".

That said, having made the request, she also has a corolllary duty to collect her goods in a timely way.
Just what "timely" means can vary case by case.

Did she fail to attend at the arranged time?
Or what?

Take screen shots of the abusivce texts.
And if she now lives elsewhere, get the locks changed.

 

[sammy01]

ask her for a suitable time for her to come and get them...
If she doesn't respond tell her she has 2 weeks to organise a time or you'll be taking it to the tip.

 

[Louise4007]

Tim is absolutely correct.

The law of torts began in England two to three centuries ago from memory (??) and is applied in Australian legislation today, basically to suit our times. It involves and includes the general obligations, duties, or rules of proper behaviour that society imposes upon people to avoid improper harm to others as well as the duties that people in society have to respect other people's property.

Torts (civil wrongs) are actionable 'per se', that is alone, or on their own. It is for this reason that tort law also determines or decides when compensation is due, or owed to another for any harm done as a result of not respecting their property.

An action in detinue is available for the wrongful detention of property where a person with a right to possession demands the return of the property and the person in possession fails to deliver the property as requested. For this reason, it is in your best interests to allow your wife to collect her goods as per the arrangement made between yourselves.

Lastly, as I said previously, if the situation reaches a point where it is simply unworkable, engage a lawyer who will help you decide the next legal steps to take in accordance with the written laws.