Boxes of cash at centre of court fight

Question centred on whether he was alive when $620,000 was received

Before he took his life, Robert Tilden of the former Tilden Rent-aCar empire hid $620,000 in cash and some hash in his family cottage in the Laurentians as a secret gift for his two best friends.

The question of whether the men could keep the gift, decided in Quebec Superior Court this week, came down to whether or not Robert was alive when they received it.

Robert was 48 when Foster Tilden, his cousin and best friend, received a call from a legal assistant in Calgary on Sept. 17, 2015. Robert had missed a family mediation meeting. Could Tilden check to see if he was at the cottage in Dunany, an hour north of Montreal?

Robert’s grandfather was Sam Tilden, founder of the Montrealbased Tilden Rent-a-Car company that spanned Canada and the United States before the family sold it in 1995. Robert was a successful investment banker in Bermuda and Calgary, allowing him to retire at the age of 45 and engage in his passions of scuba diving, fishing and golfing.

But he was going through a nasty, protracted divorce, and his family was worried.

Foster testified he drove from Montreal to the cottage at 9 p.m., saw nothing out of the ordinary and left.

Back at home, he picked up his mail and found a letter from Robert telling him there were two boxes in the cottage basement, one containing “823,” Robert’s code word for hash.

“This second box is a sizable part of your retirement fund. Transfer it to a few large safety deposit boxes and don’t touch it until after you have a final divorce settlement.

“You have always been a good friend, and not a word of this to anyone, please.”

Foster drove back, found the two boxes and left at 11:25 p.m. He opened the boxes at home. In the second was another letter from Robert, dated Sept. 11, 2015. It asked him to courier $125,000 to a university friend, Scott Rudderham.

“The $500K ($500,000) underneath, all in 100s, is for you!” the letter continued. “Thanks pal, Rob.”

The next morning, Robert’s brother Bruce received a letter dated Sept. 11 from Robert, outlining money and works of art he wanted distributed to family, and bemoaning that his ex-wife “took me for about $10 million.”

Bruce called the police immediately. When they entered the cottage, they found letters and gifts Robert had left for his siblings on the kitchen table and buffet.

They found Robert’s body in the sleeping area above the detached garage, known as the “boys’ house.” Among the letters was one describing how he wanted his belongings distributed. To his son, William, he left his Rolex watch and “all my cool condo furniture.” To Foster Tilden, he left the cottage. The balance of his estate was bequeathed to the Nature Conservancy of Canada.

Foster put his share of the cash in three safety deposit boxes, and didn’t touch it.

Whether he and Rudderham could keep the money, Quebec Superior Court Judge Gregory Moore wrote in his judgment, depended on whether Robert was alive when they took possession of the cash.

“If so, the money was a valid gift inter vivos (between the living). If not, the gift lapsed pursuant to … the Civil Code of Quebec, and Foster must return the money to Robert’s estate.”

Foster asked the court to presume Robert waited until Foster left the cottage with the money before committing suicide. He said he did not notice the letters or gifts in the kitchen when he was there.

The police report stated they found the gifts and letters in plain sight in the kitchen, which would mean, if Foster’s presumption was correct, that Robert placed them there after his cousin left at 11:25 p.m.

Multiple factors cast doubt on this presumption, Moore wrote. It was not clear Robert planned to wait for Foster to take the money before committing suicide. Robert’s letters to Foster and others were dated Sept. 11, and suggested he would be dead by the time they were received. Since Robert left the cottage to Foster, he may have assumed Foster would have retrieved the box after his death. The evidence indicated Robert did not know a gift had to be transferred between two living people.

Robert was last seen on Sept. 14, mailing letters. After that, he didn’t answer phone calls.

“It is more likely that the money left for Foster and Scott (Rudderham) was meant to be found after Robert’s death and treated as secret so that it would escape being distributed to Robert’s heirs or included in the recipients’ own divorce proceedings,” Moore wrote.

Moore ruled that the gifts left for Foster and Rudderham lapsed when Robert died, and thus the $620,000 must be returned to Robert’s estate. He rejected the estate’s request for interest or legal fees, however, because Foster was acting on the wishes of his best friend, “and the court sees no reason to add to this family tragedy by ordering Foster to pay legal costs.”

The judgment made no mention of what became of the hash.