My mother recently died and we wanted to put several paintings she bought up for sale but when the auction house came to give us the estimate on value they said that some of the paintings might have been stolen from Jews during world war 2 and now the Isralie government is starting all these processes and i have no clue what to do plz tell me what i should do the paintings are still in my possession but i dont have any idea what to do. They said they would stop if we agreed to pay these two different families equal compensation for the paintings but they want like 94 mill and we dont have any liquid assets all the money is in realestate, art and jewelrey plz help me
Originally posted 2009-09-26 18:17:23.
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Call a lawyer. A good one.
sounds like you need a lawyer
find an expert who can authenticate or refute the claims. find two more. if 2 out of 3 experts say the claims are legit, do the right thing. otherwise, tell ‘em to get lost.
real sorry about your mom.
Lawyers. Art Experts. Israeli protocol experts. You need multiple of all. If the Israeli gov. gets angry enough, perhaps you can give back paintings w/ a bit of compensation? But get a lot of top-line lawyers. And the art experts to date them and try to find who painted them. Protocol experts will help you with israeli legal process and what they like best for compensation. Good Luck!
Almost sounds like you are being scammed. Find a lawyer who specializes in this type of civil procedure. If they were stolen that many years ago and from Isreal there should not be any criminal issues from anyone. The would have to come up with the proof that they owned them. Consult with another auction house as well. Check into this auction house claiming these things. Something does not sound right at all.
Sounds like your sister’s problem to me. After all, you got the jewelry, she got the paintings, right?
Make paper copy and write the whole story you just out on yahoo answers and send it to the smithothian Museum and ask them. If you get no answers there , then try a lawyer. The smith. museum will be able I thin to tell you if what you are being told is true. And where else to go
So, let me get this right, in one of your other questions you were worried about your sister demanding 15 million dollars from you concerning jewelery your deceased mother gave to you, and you explained how that was unfair because your sister got all the art. But now you’re worried that this same sister will have to pay 94 million dollars in order to compensate the Jewish families who may or may not be the rightful owner of some of the art (paintings)? I don’t have advice, not that you really need any, but I am looking forward to reading your next question. This is almost as good as a soap.
Sounds like a scam. Do nothing with these people until they start a court proceeding and you are notified. At that point hire an attorney. If they are stolen you may be able to recover something from the person who sold them to your mother. If not stolen, then no court will make you return them. If not authentic then the paintings are not worth 91 million. My bet is that this is a scam and they will offer to settle with you if you turn over money or some of the art work to them. Scam, make em take you to court and do not give them access to the paintings without a court order.
I am sure you are not the only person that has had to deal with this. I **** to sound like a broken record baby but this looks like a job for a very good Lawyer. Sorry!! Best of luck to you. I might even do a little research to see if some on-line source has these paintings documented. Check it out. The appraiser may not be telling the truth.
…exercise your rights!!!!….they don’t have the right to enter your property!!
Call the US Consulate and ask them to arrange your turning over the paintings to the Israelis. If it’s a scam, the Consulate will figure that out without a doubt. If not, the paintings need to go back to the rightful owners, which can also be established by the Consulate. Personally I would not want to own anything that came from dirty money like the *****. Bad for karma to be around stuff like that.
Try get a lawyer so you can stop the Israeli government to make you owe them compensation.