Chattel Agreement: Fill & Download for Free

Of course.I mean, can you imagine a fully independent CSA in 2020 having slaves? I know it’s so much fun to dump on the south (inbreds that they all are), but let’s be serious and just show a little respect. It’s just not possible based on the politics today. The US wasn’t even the last country to abolish slavery. Brazil took twenty more years. Friggin’ Saudi Arabia only finally banned it in 1962.There’s just no way for a state to operate on the international community today with legally permitted slavery. Yes, I know we split hairs, save it for another day. The kind of chattel slavery that existed in the hypothetical CSA would’ve ended eons ago. When? A solid guess is right about the end of that same century, probably near Brazil. It was the British and French navies that finally put pressure on everybody to end it. There’s no reason to believe that the remaining USA would not have joined them in that effort if, for nothing else, than to find a way to damage the CSA.Side note: the reasons for the British and French banning of slavery were motivated in large part by a public condemnation of the institution. The older European churches had preached against it for years. Public activists were a thorn in the side of the government for years. Eventually the laws were changed and international agreements were signed. People celebrated and with good reason!Sigh. It would be nice to believe that that was the only reason. There’s more to the story.There is the curious fact that the British and French colonies in Africa and the Caribbean kind of sort of couldn’t use slavery (ahhhhh, and the picture becomes a bit clearer) and those countries with the jolly benefit of mass free labor could sort of under-sell their products (sugar, rubber, coffee, chocolate, nuts & fruits) on the world stage. That, of course, could never be tolerated.YES, of course. A good deed is still a good deed and something to celebrate. Still, it’s important to understand how things come about more out of pragmatic concerns than the idealistic ones.

First: none of this is intended as advice. I know I have a disclaimer below, but you should check with a lawyer and have that lawyer review all the necessary contracts and local laws before acting on your discovery.The question leaves many facts unstated and potentially unknown. The best course of action may vary greatly based on the legal jurisdiction in which you live. However, in a generic, common law country, the operable information is as follows:Base facts:Discovered Items: Loose Chattel (money)Hidden Safe -- may be chattel or fixtureContents (money) -- chattelValue: $1,000,000 USD + Safe ValueLocation: Your real propertyPotentially operable law (not advice):The safe's nature as a chattel or fixture may change the analysis in some jurisdictions. If it is a fixture and it was not emptied, in some jurisdictions the contents would also be treated as a fixture. If it is chattel, the entirety would be treated as chattel.The money is chattel, with the only potential exception as described above. Unless the real property sale contained a chattel provision as described in the note below, the money would become a "bailment" and the buyer becomes a "bailor". As bailor, you have a duty to the bailee to protect the property and attempt to return it.If the chattel was property of a tenant, it is subject to the landlord-tenant agreement, and you have to attempt to return it.If the chattel was property of the seller, you would have to notify the seller that "Did you leave anything in the home?" In some jurisdictions you would have to tell the seller what you found, but in others you simply have to give notice that there may be something.If the chattel was property of someone else, not tenant or seller, (i.e., prior owner, or someone dumping it there), you have a duty to try and figure out who and notify them.What if you cannot find the owner? With this much money, you may have to notify the local authorities depending on local laws (e.g., could be result of a theft). You may also be required to make public notice of found property (e.g., "Property found at [address], please send a description within 60 days to claim it."Note: Several people suggested it may invalidate the sale of the home. That is unlikely, but it is true that the money may not be subject to the sale of the home. You would have to check your purchase contract, but this is why you should use a standard REIQ contract that forfeits to buyer any chattels not removed from the real property. This should be in the requirement, because in some jurisdictions the default for the sale of real property is to be for the "vacant land" (including fixtures). Some contracts require notification to the seller if loose chattel is found, especially if over a certain value, but others simply put a time limit for the seller to return or hand it over wholesale once possession of the real property is taken.What should I do? If I was you, and I'm not and I do not know what jurisdiction you are in so really cannot advise you about what to do, I would do the following:Take a video of how and where you discovered it, plus photos, to fully document it. Keep all paperwork and write down the story of how you found it for posterity: stick to the truth!Hire a lawyer on contingency, "I found $1 mil, I will pay you $20,000 if you can help me keep it, or 10% of any finders fee if I have to give it away, whichever is less (attorney will say greatest)."Deposit the money in the attorney's trust account, file an IRS Form 8300. (make sure you can trust that attorney!)Notify the seller of "found property", but in vague terms.Notify any prior living owners of the "found property".Notify local law enforcement, with a notice of your claim to the property (e.g., to keep them from taking it). (Note, if your local police are corrupt, you may want to go to a higher LEA). You may be able to do this anonymously via your attorney, if you wish to protect yourself. Watch out for Civil Forfeiture!!Publish a notice, with cooperation of the police, in the local paper for "found property".File a claim against the money to claim possession over it.Hope that nobody can perfect a claim against the property and that the property becomes yours!This pretty much holds true to any finding of chattels. On the otherhand, let's say you buy a house for $100,000, and then find out the chandelier is made of real diamonds worth millions, it is a fixture and you are probably free and clear. Hope for diamonds built into a fixture, not cash!-------------UPDATE: The answers to this question seriously annoy me. Doing the legal thing is by far the simplest, least troublesome, and safest option. Yet people keep insisting that the author should lie, hide, and act with a guilty conscience. Rather than going on about why doing all of those things is utterly stupid, let's just cut to the chase and the news showing what some people who actually had this happen did and the results of those findings:$10 million in gold treasure found buried in California backyard -- not only did they get to keep the money, but they were happy keeping the money.The bad news? IRS wanted its chunk, Couple who found $10m haul of gold coins forced to give half to taxman. Except, you know what, so what? It's still more than you had, plus you have the strong argument that it was an existing condition on the property when you bought it and therefore you actually paid for it, taxes were probably paid for it originally, and thus you can keep it. If anything this reinforces why you should talk to a tax attorney about it.8 People Who Accidentally Found a Fortune - ODDEE #3 here argues a bit in favor of some of the other answers, but again that comes down to an issue of the house's purchase contract and the contractor being the finder.Carson City man leaves behind millions in gold hidden inside his homeThat said, this is why the law of the place you are in matters: $500,000 Found in House Walls Belongs to Estate, Not Homeowners Basically if the prior person who owned that money and sold it knew the money was there, it is yours. If the house had been inherited and it was unknown, but then sold, it might not be yours. However, a lot of courts (go ahead, check out Google Scholar and look for cases on point) have split the difference in those instances. And in other states the homeowners got the money, Who Gets Cash Hidden in House By Deceased Former Owner? It really comes down to what does the deed say and what is the laws of the relevant jurisdiction. i.e., Hire an Attorney.Summary: It really is better be honest and to be prepared to negotiate reasonably. With an honest approach you will likely get to keep some, if not all, of the money. In contrast, with a dishonest approach, even if you have a right to keep it all, you very well could lose it all because you would create suspicions of laundering/etc that would otherwise not exist.

You need to look at the Agreement of Purchase and Sale, and in particular the section regarding chattels and fixtures.The trailer and generator are chattels, since they are moveable. Almost certainly, the Agreement included all chattels not removed by the seller, and thus the trailer and generator now belong to you. Check with your lawyer to be sure.Assuming that they do indeed belong to you, you may sell the trailer but you should note in the ad that it is being sold without title.See Chattels And Fixtures - What's Included In A Real Estate Sale? - Real Estate and Construction - Canada. for more.