Hello All, I have a question that you might be able to help me out with; I hope. The Registrar here at my museum is working on closing out some old loans (I'm talking about items that go as far back as the 1940s and 1950s.) We do have an abandoned property law here in South Dakota that states that after ten years we may advertise the item in the newspaper and if no one responds to the ad then the property is legally that of the museum and we may accession or dispose of the item or items. Here comes the difficulty. If someone responds to the ad the law only states that the claimant must give proof of ownership to the museum's satisfaction. We're having trouble deciding exactly what "to our satisfaction" means. Does the person have to have the original loan receipt, which is very unlikely for a 60 year old loan? Does anyone have experience with similar situations and laws that might be able to offer their perspective? Also, what if the person is deceased? Can the item be claimed by a relative, if so by which relatives (for example children only or only the executor of the will)? We have referred to our state's attorney for this last question but I'd appreciate any thoughts. Thanks in advance for you help. Laura L. Hortz Curator of Collections Siouxland Heritage Museums Sioux Falls, SD 605-367-4210 ext. 3021 _________________________________________________________________ Help STOP SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).