[BCMA] Donation dispute

[Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv.]

Hi Jim


It sounds like the dispute arises from the interpretation of the legal will of the recipient of the medals, which typically stands outside the role of the curator. You received the items as a matter of good will from the grand-daughter, who signed a legal document stating that she had the legal and moral authority to make the donation. As such, your role here can be to wait until there is a legal resolution to the matter, inform both parties that once they resolve the issue between themselves you would be happy to discuss the matter further and then respond appropriately.

However, that is based on the assumption that she clearly has title.  This seems to be in dispute. You may respond to the situation before that time should the donor grand-daughter come to you to indicate that the items were given in error, in which case you would have to return the items and make note of the return through the minutes of your organization. You would also need to cancel any donation receipts and inform the donor of such through a paper trail.

Of course, in making your decision to wait, you should think about other issues. For example, what do these medals do for your organization? Do you have other medals that are similar? If so, what additional information is gained by these items? If the answer is that you already have other similar medals in the collection, you might contact the donor, and indicate that there appears to be a dispute about whether she had clear title, and until that has been resolved you are returning the medals to her until she clearly has title to make the donation. This keeps you insulated from the family dynamics. Again, the appropriate documentation would have to be done to reverse the decision, but that is a small price to pay for the savings in time and community goodwill. You don't want to be spoken of as not responding to the disputing daughter's concerns. This can have a big impact on future donations. 

Others may have different answers, but there is the legal issue, and then there is the community dynamics issue. 

Darryl MacKenzie | Curator, Delta Cultural Services
Parks, Recreation and Culture | The City of Delta
p. 604.952.3837| c. 778.231.0504

-----Original Message-----
From: bcma-bounces at lists.vifa.ca [mailto:bcma-bounces at lists.vifa.ca] On Behalf Of Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv.
Sent: Monday, October 21, 2019 10:59 AM
To: bcma at lists.vifa.ca
Subject: [BCMA] Donation dispute

Seeking advice

We accepted a donation of WW1 metals from a granddaughter of the WW1combatant.  The sister of the donor has sent emails demanding we give the metals to her even threatening legal action.
>From the emails, the they to not get along. The sister didn't know the metals existed so I don't know how she found out we had just received them.
Our donation form has the line that the donor has the legal right to donate them to us. 

Any advice how to deal with the situation?  If we give them back, I believe we need to give them to the donor, not the sister.  We don't have a legal dept.

Jim Millar
Port Moody Station Museum
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