As a fine art storage facility, we do on occasion become involved in holding art assets on a fiduciary basis for estates or attorneys while various legal entanglements are sorted out. In other words, while people fight over who gets what. The recent court action filed by Victoria Duffy to forestall auction of specified artworks from the estate of her late husband Dennis Hopper is unfortunately typical of the process.

 On more than one occasion we have been asked to remove artworks from a residence in a hurry – on a weekend or late at night – by one spouse or another. Where this was recognizable as a questionable tactic or even admitted as an attempt to shield assets from a pending divorce action, we have declined to become involved. But often we have no idea who the legal owner of items might be. If someone engages us to move artworks to storage or to a third party location we will do so. Galleries often store paintings which they don’t own, and traveling exhibitions consisting of many loaned works are also routinely stored and transported between venues. In these circumstances it is the depositor of the goods who has the right of access to them – at least until proven otherwise.

Record keeping is generally the crux of the disposition matter. For serious collectors as well as the more amateur variety, being able to demonstrate the provenance of an artwork – who acquired it when, and from who, in what order – often settles the issue of legal title. If an artwork is stored by someone who is proven not to have legal title, it can be returned to the rightful owner. As the result of a proper legal action, and once the bills are paid, of course.

Companies like ours keep accurate records, and keep them long term, showing where artworks have been picked up, stored, and delivered. We do this for tax reasons, but such records are also useful to demonstrate chain of custody. Unlike self storage where there is no record of what is stored, we keep itemized inventories of everything on hand, dates in and dates out, and to whom items were released or delivered. If you are trying to hide assets, you’ll probably want to set up a nice web of cardboard holding companies before you call us. On the other hand if you’re looking to have careful inventory documentation, confidentiality, and assurance that proper procedures for access and information control are in place, then a fine art storage provider is your best bet. We’ve got your back. At least until the lawyers get to work.

Betsy Dorfman