Clearing an Estate House in Oklahoma City: Title Passes at the Curb

Of the twelve cities in this series, Oklahoma City is the one whose code says out loud what every other city leaves implied. Putting something at the kerb is not merely setting it out for collection — it is giving it away. For a personal representative, who is under a statutory duty to take possession of the decedent's personal property in the first place, that makes the kerb a one-way door.

The Sentence That Changes the Job

Section 49-25(e)(6) of the Oklahoma City Municipal Code: "by placing bulky waste out for collection, the customer relinquishes title to the bulky item picked up. The division may decline to accept such items that contain other municipal solid waste, contraband, commercial construction debris, or hazardous wastes."

Relinquishes title. Not abandons possession, not transfers custody for disposal — relinquishes title. Whatever follows, the item is no longer the estate's, and no later discovery about its value reverses that.

Against the ordinary rhythm of a clearout, where decisions are made quickly and a kerbside pile grows through an afternoon, the subsection has a simple practical consequence: the sorting has to be finished before the carrying starts, and it has to be recorded, because the record is the only thing that will exist afterwards.

And Oklahoma Requires Possession First

58 O.S. § 251 does not give the representative a choice about the contents: "The executor or administrator must take into his possession all the estate of the decedent, real and personal, except the homestead and personal property not assets, and collect all debts due to the decedent or to the estate."

Must take into his possession — all the estate, real and personal. The two provisions meet at the kerb. Oklahoma obliges the representative to take possession of the personal property; Oklahoma City treats placement for collection as relinquishing title to it. An item carried straight from a bedroom to the kerb has been possessed and divested in the same motion, and the only defensible way to do that is to have decided, and documented, that it was not an asset worth keeping.

The related provisions sharpen the point. Section 58 O.S. § 253 allows executors and administrators to maintain actions "against any person who has wasted, destroyed, taken or carried away, or converted to his own use, the goods" of the decedent. The representative is the person expected to bring that action — which is an uncomfortable position to occupy if the goods left in a skip on the representative's own instruction.

Double the Value, Before Letters Issue

There is a further Oklahoma provision that families clearing a relative's house almost never hear about until it is too late. 58 O.S. § 292(A): "If any person, before the granting of letters testamentary or of administration, embezzles or alienates any of the monies, goods, chattel or effects of a decedent, the person is chargeable therewith, and liable to an action by the executor or administrator of the estate, for double the value of the property so embezzled or alienated, to be recovered for the benefit of the estate."

Alienates is the operative word, and it is broader than embezzles. Giving a relative's furniture away, selling it, or putting it at the kerb before anyone has been appointed are all capable of falling within it, and the measure is double the value, recovered for the estate. The person later appointed as representative is the one who brings that action.

The practical reading is unglamorous: in Oklahoma, wait for letters. A clearout that begins before appointment is not merely premature, it is an act the statute prices at twice the value of whatever left the house.

What the City Will Take, and On What Terms

Section 49-21(3) defines bulky waste as including "discarded large and small household appliances, furniture, carpets, mattresses, and similar small and large items produced as refuse, and small non-contracted remodeling wastes from single-unit or multi-unit dwellings."

Note the qualifier on remodeling waste: small, and non-contracted. A little waste from work the household did itself is within the definition; waste from work a contractor did is not, and section 49-25(e)(6) separately allows the division to decline items containing commercial construction debris.

Section 49-25(e) then sets the conditions, and they are specific.

• Bulky waste must be generated by the owner, occupant or rental agent at that residence to be eligible, and must be placed at the curb line
• Small items lying loose on the ground will not be picked up by the bulky waste crew; they will be left for the customer to place in the cart
• Bulky waste shall not be commingled with yard waste, other municipal solid waste, or waste generated from a different residence
• It must be placed separately so as to allow ten feet of clearance from all obstacles such as power poles, guy wires, signs, fire hydrants and gas meters, to allow mechanized pickup
• It shall not be placed out earlier than three days preceding the regular scheduled bulky waste collection day
• Doors on refrigerators and other bulky wastes with affixed doors or panels must be removed before placement; the division must be contacted about items containing freon
• Tree trimmings and branches go in piles with individual branches no longer than eight feet, and dead trees not more than six inches in diameter
• An additional fee is charged for each cubic yard of bulky waste collected in excess of four cubic yards in any single scheduled collection

Ten feet of clearance from every pole, sign, hydrant and gas meter is a demanding requirement on a typical residential frontage, and it is there for a mechanical reason — the grapple truck needs the room. It is also the rule most likely to turn a compliant pile into an uncollected one.

What Is Not Collectible At All

Section 49-21(18) defines non-collectible waste, and the list reaches a good deal of what comes out of an older house: "automobile frames, crankcases, transmissions, tires, and materials that may cause damage to collection equipment or personal injury to collectors; dirt, rocks, or debris resulting from construction, reconstruction or repairs of premises", household hazardous waste, hazardous waste, untreated biomedical waste — and, crucially, "refuse which has been combined or mixed with any of the above-mentioned items."

That last clause is the contamination rule in a different form. Mixing one excluded item into an otherwise collectible load makes the load non-collectible. Section 49-26 then states what happens next: "Noncollectible wastes shall not be placed with collectible solid waste for collection but shall be disposed of directly and promptly by the person owning, occupying, renting, or leasing the premises wherein such material is accumulated."

Directly and promptly, by the person owning the premises. During an administration that is the estate. And section 49-21(20) defines owner as "the owner of record as shown by the most current tax rolls of the county treasurer" — which on an estate property is usually still the decedent, so expect the city's correspondence to be addressed accordingly.

The Building Side

58 O.S. § 290 sets the standard for the structure, and it is unusual: the executor or administrator "must keep in good tenantable repair all houses, buildings, and fixtures thereon, which are under his control." Good tenantable repair points at a condition fit to be occupied rather than merely preserved — a higher target than most states set — and it is limited twice over, to buildings under the representative's control, with the homestead carved out of possession entirely by the same section.

The full section, its interaction with § 251, and the funding problem created by § 264's tax-only borrowing power are set out in an Oklahoma executor's duty of good tenantable repair, alongside how the other six covered states answer the same question.

Planning the Job Backwards

• Do not start before letters are granted; § 292(A) prices alienation of a decedent's goods before appointment at double their value
• Finish the sorting before the carrying starts, because § 49-25(e)(6) makes placement at the kerb a relinquishment of title that no later discovery reverses
• Photograph and record each item before it goes, since the record is the only evidence of the possession § 251 required and the judgment that followed
• Separate out the non-collectible categories first; mixing one of them in makes the whole load non-collectible under § 49-21(18)
• Measure the frontage against the ten-foot clearance rule before deciding where the pile goes
• Take the doors off refrigerators and contact the division about anything containing freon
• Keep each collection within four cubic yards or expect the per-yard charge
• Set out no more than three days ahead, and keep bulky waste separate from yard waste and from any other property's material

For the clearing work itself see what a trash-out is, and for the eviction version, the eviction property cleanout process. The same job runs on quite different rules in Little Rock, where the monthly fee is charged without exception; Birmingham, where Alabama's probate code decides what may be abandoned; New Orleans, where the cap is measured in gallons; San Antonio, which refuses anything over eight cubic yards; Dallas, where the overage is billed to the water account; Houston, where the record owner is presumptively liable; Cleveland, where staging is itself the offence; Columbus, where bulk needs an occupant; Cincinnati, where a pile of small items is not bulk refuse; Pittsburgh, which bills hourly; and Philadelphia, where a street dumpster is unlicensable across much of Center City. The statutory duties by state are collected at estates, probate and fiduciary.