With all due respect to your State Attorney General (and bearing in mind
that I am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on television), there are other
methods of showing clear title than a deed of gift.   Appropriate
correspondence, receipts, etc. can all show the intent to give.   Anyone who
tries to claim a museum piece will also need to show proof of their
ownership.

Please, please, please do not confuse a museum-generated form with legal
requirements.

janice

-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of Martha Battle Jackson
Sent: Thursday, July 07, 2005 1:00 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Returning Deed of Gifts


Having faced similar circumstances where donors did not return deeds of
gift, whether by neglect or moving without leaving a forwarding address, we
asked our State Attorney General if we could accession the collections
anyway.  He told us that we could, but that if the donor or donor's heirs
ever showed up and wanted the collections returned, we would have to return
them.  He said that unless we have clear title to the collection, we would
have no other choice.

Martha Battle Jackson, Curator of Technology
North Carolina State Historic Sites
Mailing Address: 4621 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC  27699-4621
Street Address:  532 North Wilmington Street, Raleigh, NC  27604
919/733-3877; ext. 236; FAX: 919/733-9515
[log in to unmask]

E-mail correspondence to and from this sender may be subject to the
North Carolina Public Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties.
The views expressed by the sender may not reflect those of my agency.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Janice Klein" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, July 07, 2005 1:35 PM
Subject: Re: Returning Deed of Gifts


> Abandoned property laws -- and the more specific laws relating to "old
> loans" -- come into play when you do not have any documentation about an
> object or are unable to contact the lender (or heirs).   If you have
> records
> indicating that someone gave you the object (i.e., the offer and
> acceptance)
> and you have the object, then the property is not considered "abandoned",
> just because your internal museum procedures have not been complete.
>
> It is important to remember that internal distinctions that museums
> make --
> like the difference between accessioning and cataloguing -- don't
> necessarily have any meaning in legal terms.   Objects that are
> "deaccessioned" still belong to the museum (i.e., they still have legal
> title to them) until they transfer title to another entity (or destroy the
> objects).
>
> janice
>
> Janice Klein
> Director, Mitchell Museum of the American Indian
> [log in to unmask]
> www.mitchellmuseum.org
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
> Behalf Of Amanda Thompson
> Sent: Thursday, July 07, 2005 12:14 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Returning Deed of Gifts
>
>
> Janice:
>
> Do you know if this is true in all states?  This seems extremely
> simplified
> to me.  If this were true, why is there a section for museums in the Texas
> abandoned property code?
>
> Thanks!
> Amanda Dyer
> Curator
> Bell County Museum
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
> Behalf Of Janice Klein
> Sent: Thursday, July 07, 2005 10:27 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Returning Deed of Gifts
>
>
> This topic has been much discussed on the Registrars listserv (RCAAM-L).
>
> A Deed of Gift is not a legal requirement, it is "only" museum
> policy/procedure.  For a gift to be legally valid three things need to
> happen:
>    1. an offer needs to be made
>    2. the offer needs to be accepted
>    3. the object needs to be physical transfered to you
>
> If you have all three of those things, the object is legally yours.
>
> The Deed is a Nice Thing to pull all three of these together, but it is
> not
> required.   If you have a piece of paper (even a temporary receipt) that
> says the object was offered as a gift, a letter thanking the donor for the
> gift and the object itself, you have all that the law requires.
>
> Having said that, I usually don't send out the IRS 8283 Form until I have
> a
> signed Deed.   But if the donor doesn't want the IRS form and doesn't send
> back the Deed, I don't bug them.
>
> janice
>
> Janice Klein
> Director, Mitchell Museum of the American Indian
> [log in to unmask]
> www.mitchellmuseum.org
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
> Behalf Of [log in to unmask]
> Sent: Thursday, July 07, 2005 10:06 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Returning Deed of Gifts
>
>
> I sometimes have a hard time of donors returning Deed of Gifts.  I
> include a self addressed, stamped envelope, but that doesn't seem to be
> enough.
>
> Would appreciate any advice on the matter, or a link to previous
> discussions.
>
> Regards,
>
> Joshua K. Blay
>
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