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.
Sorry for your loss.
I’ll go against the grain here and say that you not feel bad to respect his wishes. I think people are quick to make assumptions on behalf of the dead.
However, there is obviously nuance here. I assume they are well off, but are they? For example, if he was spending way above what he should have compared to their wealth, I feel like she deserves to know. But if they are very wealthy, I don’t think you should feel bad.
But that’s all it boils down to: what you feel. If you feel inclined to tell her and that it’ll lighten an emotional burden for you, go ahead. But in my view you shouldn’t feel bad otherwise, except of course, in context of them not having a lot. You heard the man, if the money just goes to clothes and the Bahamas…
For the legal side I know jackshit and you’d best hear with a lawyer about that.