Good morning everyone—
I’m in the process of
going through NH’s museum abandoned art legal process, but there’s nothing
in the law that deals with this situation:
Several years ago, we were given
20-30 paintings, drawings and prints by a gentleman whose primary motivation
was a tax break (he was not otherwise an art collector; there was a time where
a small group of donors collaborated with each other on buying art in order to get
tax breaks by offering it to us and he was one of them. We’re very glad
they’ve stopped as the whole thing was questionable and awkward.) At any
rate, I have plenty of correspondence to and from him discussing the potential
gift, which our collection committee had voted on and had accepted almost all
of. He left the works with us, but was waiting to actually sign the Gift Deed until
he sold a particular parcel of real estate. Subsequent attempts on our part to
contact him as time went by had no result, and in our most recent attempt we
discovered that he had passed away. He was unmarried with no children, and his
only sibling and both parents are also now gone. He never did actually sign a
Gift Deed.
So my question is: since we have
proof of gift intent, can we go ahead and accession the works? With no signed
deed, how do we prove/have paperwork for ownership? Or do I need to attempt to
find out if he had a designated heir and start the whole process over again?
Any advice would be appreciated!
Astrida
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Astrida Schaeffer, Exhibitions
and Collections Manager
Museum of Art, University of New Hampshire
Paul Creative Arts Center
30 Academic Way
Durham, NH 03824-3538
603-862-0310
FAX: 603-862-2191
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