(Untitled)

[mouse_pad]

My uncle Mark moved back home from California and into his parents' (my maternal grandparents') house in 1990. He had been unemployed for some five years before then, and hasn't been employed since. Exactly what's going on with him is a mystery to me. I don't know if he has some sort of mental illness or if he just has a tragic case of laziness

Comments

[gigerlicious]

My brother and I have had a standing agreement/joke for years where we said we'd just sell everything in the estate for a dollar to get that mess out of our way. Then my brother married a lawyer.

That said, I'd try and exhale about these estate/probate things. My experience with my own grandparents says they have a long tail, even if it gets really small. My paternal grandfather had moved out of his house and was renting it to a woman when he died, and he had stipulated she could live/rent there as long as she wanted after his death, so for about 18 months my dad had to collect a rent check every month and then split that up five ways with his siblings. Fortunately he said nothing of his personal properties and that was essentially first come, first served, which rankled this person and that person, but it at least killed the probate process.

Huh. It just occurs to me both my grandfathers outlived their spouses by many years (9 and 13). That's quite the statistical deviation.

[saturn939]

I tried to gently tell her that even though some of his demands may be a bit ridiculous from her point of view, maybe they make some sense from his. Also, sometimes you have to play along to get along.

That's such a reasonable, measured piece of advice. I wish I were better at following it during all of my daily dealings.

-Dee

[mouse_pad]

In this case, they're arguing about my grandmother's jewelry. Mom says it's mostly costume jewelry that isn't really worth anything. Mark wants to get it appraised. Mom is probably right. She loves jewelry and ought to have a pretty good idea of what it's worth. Mark probably doesn't know jewelry that well. Mom's refusal to agree to an appraisal could conceivably be making Mark suspicious that he's trying to cheat her.

The difference is probably a couple hundred dollars for an appraisal. That could mean the difference between Mom getting the jewelry and Mark refusing to turn it over. I say, if he really insists, then get it appraised.