Hi everybody,
Thought I'd do a brief update on where things are in my life.
Some of you may recall I made a conservative (but well reasoned) offer to buy the house from my mother's estate. It's practical (I already live there) and it's the only thing holding up the settling of her estate. But, since my Npath (N + sociopath) brother has a 1/3 share, it has to be done through the courts. We (my lawyer and I) conveyed a real offer in April. He ignored it. Then we gave him a deadline of July 1, he ignored that. He won't even respond to his own attorney's requests. I got approved for financing in April, but that may be moot.
Meanwhile, I've done all the executor functions anyway. But since Nmother left us as CO-executors (against my express pleading that she not leave me legally entangled with him in any way), neither of us is officially executor. To be official, you have to go to the courthouse with documents and be "registered" first -- and, since she made us Co-executors--trying to force her sentimental vision of a sibling relationship, which she helped to destroy with all the manipulation-- we'd have to both go to that appointment. Difficult to accomplish with someone you fear and who isn't responding to anything and who lives halfway across the country. He didn't attend her memorial and there hasn't been a syllable from him since she died (and since he received the auditor's report emphatically in my favor).
I have adapted to her death (a relief to us both) and am at peace that he is out of my life. That peace will solidify when he is also LEGALLY out of my life and can never re-enter it on any pretext.
So. Now we have to petition the court that I be made sole executor, or if there's any objection as to conflict of interest (selling myself the house), that a 3rd-party executor be approved (the same woman who did the audit) or nominated by the court. That means, more money to lawyers, more time lost as it's months before you can get on the docket. However, this time my attorney is going after the legal fees not to come from the estate, but from my brother's pocket. And, since my brother has shown no interest in helping, responding, or behaving like an adult, the judge may respond in our favor.
All that said, I'm okay about it, most days. I am still in limbo, but instead of freaking out about all the uncertainty, I am trying to float in it. I am planning to use this time to pare down my belongings (that have been stored for 10 years in the basement), simplify simplify simplify...and that way, whether one day I find out I can stay in my home or must sell it and move...either way I will be okay.
Slow progress, but progress.
I am otherwise focused on trying to rebuild my health. The fatigue is deep and it will take a few years, I think, before I am a healthy animal again.
love,
Hops
