Former-Tenant Abandoned Personal Property Attorney-Review Intake

Former-Tenant Personal Property Attorney-Review Intake

Do not send this worksheet to a former tenant as a legal notice. Complete it so counsel can select the correct jurisdiction-specific route and draft the operative notice, if one is required.

1. Property and Parties

Rental-property jurisdiction: [STATE / COUNTY / CITY]

Former premises: [________________________________]

Landlord/owner: [________________________________]

Former tenant or resident: [________________________________]

Other known occupants or property owners: [________________________________]

Last-known and alternate addresses: [________________________________]

Phone, email, employer, family, and emergency-contact records: [________________________________]

2. How Possession Ended

Select every potentially applicable route. Do not assume that one route's deadline applies to another.

☐ Fixed term expired

☐ Tenant gave notice and surrendered possession

☐ Landlord accepted surrender

☐ Suspected abandonment without an express surrender

☐ Court judgment and writ/order were executed

☐ Tenant died

☐ Foreclosure, receivership, bankruptcy, military, domestic-violence, or subsidized-housing overlay

☐ Unclear — no property action until counsel resolves possession

Key dates, documents, keys, utility facts, rent status, communications, and witness information:

[____________________________________________________________]

3. Inventory and Classification

Inventory each item or logical group; photograph before moving.

Check separately:

☐ Prescription medication or medical equipment

☐ Identification, immigration, employment, financial, benefit, or medical records

☐ Tools or books of a trade

☐ Vehicle, manufactured home, mobile home, trailer, watercraft, or other titled property

☐ Firearm, ammunition, controlled substance, alcohol, or regulated item

☐ Animal, plant, food, garbage, chemical, fuel, explosive, biohazard, or pest risk

☐ Confidential data, computer, phone, storage media, or business records

☐ Property credibly claimed by a third party, secured party, estate, employer, or government

4. Authority Research Sheet

Counsel must complete every applicable field with a current official source.

Amendment/repeal search completed for every core citation: ☐ Yes

5. Preservation Pending Review

Until counsel approves a route:

• Do not invent a deadline or rely on another state's form.
• Do not condition access on charges unless current law permits it.
• Do not treat silence, nonpayment, missing keys, or stopped utilities as sufficient abandonment without the governing standard.
• Do not discard high-value, titled, medical, identity, hazardous, animal, estate, or third-party property under an ordinary household-property rule.
• Preserve inventory, photographs, access logs, communications, receipts, court papers, mailing records, and valuation support.

Storage location and custodian: [________________________________]

Immediate safety steps taken: [________________________________]

6. Counsel-Approved Notice Instructions

Approved route: [________________________________]

Required notice date: [__/__/____]

Earliest lawful disposition date: [__/__/____]

Required recipients and addresses: [________________________________]

Required delivery, posting, publication, or officer action: [________________________________]

Retrieval conditions and charges: [________________________________]

Permitted disposition and proceeds treatment: [________________________________]

Special exclusions: [________________________________]

Attorney name, jurisdiction, signature, and date: [________________________________]

7. Drafting Checklist

☐ The operative notice identifies the correct termination route

☐ Every deadline is calculated from the event specified by current law

☐ No optional courtesy period is labeled statutory

☐ No statutory notice is replaced by this intake

☐ All protected or separately regulated property is excluded

☐ Delivery proof, inventory, valuation, charges, and disposition records will be retained