[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

Oh, no I didn't mean that I thought you were lecturing me. Merely that I totally agree with what you've said. And I'm sorry for what you've been through with you're brother's estate.

Meh. Family, right? ;-)

Iirc, in the Netherlands there are three options when it comes to an inheritance. You can accept it, reject it or you can accept it provisionally (not sure what the right English term is).

That word is exactly right. And it's similar here, see below.

Which means you wait until the inheritance is legally dealt with, if anything unexpected arises you can still reject it. Drawback is that you can't do anything with the property of the deceased. If you take a pen of theirs you accept the inheritance with everything that comes with it.

There isn't really a "Provisional" acceptance here, but, the thing about, if you take ONE thing, tag, you're it, applies here. I warned my sister that even though my brother had some sentimental items--images, and the like, detritus to anyone else, but treasured to her--not to touch ANYTHING until she had permission from the bank to take those specific items. Otherwise, yup, if you take anything that any creditor can say has monetary value, you're hosed. So, whilst "provisional" doesn't exist in law, as it does in your neck of the woods, the theory does.

Now, my grandmother didn't have much. When she moved from her apartment to a care home all family members were asked to get the items they wanted, what was left was donated or thrown away. My grandmother had her clothes, some jewelry (not much monetary worth), some artwork (again, not much worth) and two wooden dressers/cupboards. The dressers were left at the care home, they were in the communal areas, with the understanding that if needed we could always come and get them. The rest of my grandmother's stuff, about three boxes, are stored by my aunt.

Isn't it surprisingly difficult to get rid of "stuff" owned by family? Honestly, I thought I was going to have to spend WEEKS clearing out my mother's place, because my sister had to pore over every picture, every slide, every cookbook, etc., etc. I hate to sound like Cruella DeVille, (sp?) but I'm a lot less sentimental and I tossed stuff wholesale.

We have already agreed (without my uncle) that my aunt should get the jewelry, since they have an emotional value to her. The rest we have to see when everything is dealt with.

Good luck.

A couple of weeks ago I typed over my grandfather's will (we only had one, badly xeroxed copy of it) and that was clear. He even foresaw that there was a possibility that his children would disagree. After his death my grandmother made a new will, which is more vague. We are fairly sure my uncle influenced her, but can't prove it. Luckily, due to the way my grandfather's will was set up it takes precedence over my grandmother's will.

Honestly, the most important part is the "if my devisees disagree" portion. Amazing how often THAT happens. And as we already touched upon, it's often NOT the expensive things, it's sentimental things.

I'm very glad for you that in all likelihood, the worst is over, about the case.

Hitch