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.
He died intestate. I’d argue by giving you possession and control of the collection, and telling you not to tell his wife, he made a de facto gift to you. There is a case that lawfully, you are under no obligation to divest yourself of the watches, nor tell his wife. But I’d recommend consulting a wills and trusts attorney.
Ignore those on here telling you what the legal requirements are on this. They don’t even know what State he died in, which is crucial to know.