Okay we have a strange situation here, I will try to make it as simple as
possible.  I apologize for the length of this but I have no clue what to
do and it is a complicated circumstance.
 
T purchased 2 male ferrets from pet stores, and also adopted one female
from shelter.
 
T lived with a man, J (we don't think they were legally married), she had
confided in us that J was an alcoholic and abusive.
 
T was diagnosed with untreatable cancer and given 2 years to live.  She
confided in us her plans to leave J to live her final time left as happy
as possible.
 
Sadly, within weeks, before she could leave J, her cancer took an
unexpected turn and she was given only a couple of weeks to live with
assistance.
 
At that time she asked to care for her ferrets and *in front of J*, said
that her wishes were for us, after she was gone, to rehome the rescue but
the bonded pair whom J loved may or may not end up back with him, depending
on his wishes.  With me so far?
 
However, in later private conversations, T expressed her wishes to both me
and my assistant at the shelter, Trisha, that she wanted "the boys" to have
a permanent home with Trisha where she knew they would be safe and loved.
 
The last contact we had with J was when he called to tell us T had passed
away.  At that time he said he did not know whether he wanted the boys back
or not, but for us to keep in contact to let him know how there are and he
would let us know shortly.
 
Now it has been a month since we heard from him, his phone has been
disconnected and replaced with an unlisted number.
 
It has been two months the boys (Josh and Earl) have lived with Trisha.
They (especially Josh), went through a depression, separation anxiety and
many difficulties from missing their beloved T and just in the past 3
weeks have begun to accept their new momma, new home and new fuzzy friends
and be happy normal ferrets again.
 
It is our opinion that T's final wishes were for Josh and Earl to remain
with Trisha.  It is also our opinion that disrupting them again will cause
further stress on them, and especially returning to T's home, where they
will remember her and smell her but not have her will be especially
traumatizing.  For various reasons, we also have serious concerns of J's
ability to care for them alone.
 
So legally/morally.... where do our obligations lay?
 
- Vet records show T as sole owner, and J is not her legal husband.
- We have witnesses but nothing in writing to T's wishes.
- We have possession of the ferrets, given to us BY T.
- J has not contacted us since his "I might or might not want them" and
  month ago, an now we can not contact him via phone.
 
Are we obligated to attempt to physically contact him?  (ie going to the
home in person) Are we obligated to wait a certain length of time and
consider them abandoned?  Do we simply take T's wishes as their owner and
consider them already Trisha's property?  What if we physically contact J
and he demands their return?
 
Morally, everyone locally involved firmly believes we should honor T's
final wish AND what we feel to be in the best interest of the ferrets and
leave them with Trisha.
 
Legally, is that correct in this situation?
ANY ADVICE IS APPRECIATED!!!!!
[Posted in FML issue 3291]