He’s also my business partner. He kept his watch collection with me since his wife doesn’t allow him to buy watches and made me promise not to ever tell his wife about them. Not only because she doesn’t like it but also because she will definitely ask him to sell them and probably spend the money on clothes and traveling like she often does.
He lets me use the watches in the condition that I don’t cause any damage. But now that he passed away it doesn’t feel right any more.
His watch collection is worth about 200K$ in todays market. I think the lawful and ethical thing to do is to break the promise and tell his wife but I’m not sure that’s the right thing to do since he made me promise not to tell her.
Holy crap the number of incels in this sub is staggering. We know nothing of the deceased or his wife except the heresy provided by OP.
She didn’t like him spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on watches. How tf is this a sticking point for anyone. Even the most fervent watch collectors admit how absurd it is that we spend such ridiculous sums of money on watches. OP said she would ask him to sell (understandable) and “probably” spend the money on clothes and traveling. Given the deceased was married to her, I’m going to make the not-so-large leap and assume they traveled together. An overwhelming majority of people would rather spend 10k on a trip than a watch. As far as spending the money on clothes, how is this any different than spending the money on watches? Travel is enjoyed by both, materialistic items are enjoyed by one. Whether watches or clothes, they are both selfish uses of money.
In community property states (Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin), each spouse equitably owns anything earned during the marriage. Each spouse can do whatever he or she likes with his or her share of the community property. All other states are equitable distribution or common law states. The law is more complicated in these states as there are a number of factors that determine the distribution of property.
Though the deceased did not have a will, it is notable that there are laws that protect spouses from being disinherited even if a will tries to do so. Surviving spouses are often entitled to 1/3-1/2 of the estate’s assets provided they make a claim in court.
Hiding assets from your spouse is unethical and (in some cases) illegal. The level at which the deceased was concealing assets is morally untenable. If they were in such stark disagreement about their finances, they should have divorced, in which case he would legally have to disclose the watches.