Also known as: safe deposit box · safe-deposit boxes · safety deposit box · safety-deposit box
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A lockbox stored in a bank's vault to secure a customer's valuables. It usually requires two keys, one held by the bank and one by the customer, to open.
An attorney representing a client accused of robbery removes the client's stolen cash and firearm from the client's apartment. The attorney places both items in a new safe-deposit box rented under a false name. Police later discover the box and the items. Because the attorney actively obstructed law enforcement access to physical evidence of the crime, the attorney receives no privilege protection and faces potential criminal liability.
Testator G executes Will No. 2 that revokes Will No. 1. G later tears up Will No. 2 with the intent to revive Will No. 1. After G's death, Will No. 1 is discovered inside G's safe-deposit box. G had told neighbors at a gathering that the later will had been destroyed and the earlier will should control. The earlier will is revived because the facts establish G's intent to revive it.
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A safe-deposit box is a lockbox stored in a bank's vault to secure a customer's valuables. It usually requires two keys, one held by the bank and one by the customer, to open.
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Moving coins from a customer's exclusive safe-deposit box to a firm's vault without consent and denying access for months constitutes trespass to chattels and possibly conversion. The interference with the owner's possessory interest is sufficient even without physical damage to the items.
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Yes. A brokerage firm that obtains a freeze and turnover order directed at a customer's safe-deposit box causes dispossession when the marshal seizes and holds the certificates for months. The firm intentionally sets the process in motion that deprives the owner of possession.
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When a testator revokes a later will intending to revive an earlier one, discovery of the earlier will in the testator's safe-deposit box after death, combined with statements to neighbors, supports revival if the intent is proved and not the product of mistake in inducement.
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