Hello,

I have about $2,000 worth of wedding decorations that I’ve been slowly chipping away at selling. My mom was letting me keep them in her storage unit for the past year or so since my husband and I live in a small apartment and didn’t have the storage space.

Unfortunately I had a feeling back then this would be a bad idea in the long run. I’ve had a rocky relationship with my mom and to cut it short she’s abusive and manipulative. After a recent argument (regarding me attempting to set healthy boundaries and her throwing an adult tantrum) I had to block her on social media. Her only access to me is via text.

I have always been given the code to get into the unit and the key for the lock. My mom has since changed the lock and is keeping my items hostage. I asked her in a mature manner when we can arrange for me to get my items and she started discussing how she will be calculating the square footage of the area I took up so I could pay her back for the space per each month. We never had a formal or informal agreement for this and she’s purely being petty.

I told her I’d be willing to get law enforcement involved if she insists on holding my personal property hostage. She tried to continue escalating from there but ultimately I’m very serious.

What are the next steps and the best way to go about this?