There was no pension said Eliza. I can’t see why there should have been. She was probably living on interest.
We’d better go to the bank.
They’ll probably want to see my letters before they let us have anything. Better wait until we see Bernard again. I’ll write off for Mum’s and my birth certificates and we’ll need to find Dodge’s. It’s really too bad you don’t have one. Do you know did she have any debts.
I shrugged.
How do we find out.
I guess we just wait to see if someone calls them in. Before we left him Bernard had shown us the template for a notice that had to be published two weeks ahead of applying at the court for letters of administration and we had followed it on the spot and delivered our version to the front office of The Sydney Morning Herald on the way home, so by now it was not simply from under the stone cold teapot and sticky breakfast plates deserted over the coffee table in the flat on Greenknowe Avenue but from any number of the volar errant facets of the daily press that the words after fourteen days from the publication of this notice and application for administration of the estate of rose dodge late of Sydney, spinster, will be made by Elizabeth O’Rourk the niece. Creditors are required to send particulars of their claims upon her estate to Looper and Russett solicitors, 1/2 Bland Street, Woolomooloo might have been seen by anyone. As grammatical error or a hole was inherent to the template and because we didn’t know any better we didn’t think our own defect would cause any trouble. We figured anyone who had an interest would understand whichever way it happened to come out.
Dodge didn’t have a filing cabinet or something.
No. There’s nothing left. She didn’t keep any. Papers. There are none. At least I don’t think so. Where would you keep them around here.
Eliza was trying the drawer of the writing table by the window. It opened with a hollow cough. She flinched. It’s empty.
They all are.
Oof. Looks like the kind of place that’d be full of stuff to read. What about in there. She pointed at the glimmer between the sliding doors.
Things for eating.
What did you do all that time without a T.V.
Dodge talked. We had a radio once but it broke.
The birth certificates came express courier, the envelope otherwise empty but signed by the neighbour Eliza had left in charge of the property and her mother’s vital needs. At the end of the week we went back down the hill and found Bernard hunched over his desk again which was clear now except for a blotter and a glass of something orange and softly hissing. He remained seated as we came in, smiling to avoid wincing and nodding, taking back from Eliza his umbrella, dry, wound up, and buckled in. Don’t be fooled he said lifting the umbrella slightly. It looks much better but I still haven’t found your file. Obviously he was referring to the old disorder though apart from the surface of the desk and some space that had been dug out in the corner of the room to the left of the doorway there was now a pile of manila folders and loose purplish paper leaning against the benighted window where there hadn’t been before and where there had been a chair there was another stack of boxes. I’ll say the rest of the room looked exactly the same.
We gave him the certificates and told him it might take a while to turn up adoption papers. We all agreed it would be impractical to hold off dividing the estate. In any case he said inhaling deeply I was right, the Family Provision Act makes it perfectly possible for Maxine to be provided for without them. Dodge finally transcended her bad timing. Recte facit, if you’ll pardon my rudeness. You see the old Family Maintenance Act only worked on behalf of blood relatives. Now in the absence of a legacy the court is allowed to consider the contribution of any eligible person to the welfare of the deceased, including contribution as a homemaker, the character and conduct of the person before and after death, her circumstances. Having been a dependant also makes you eligible to be provided for. What does your mother think.
She agrees.
Bernard paused. He had picked up the glass from the desk but put it back now without drinking. Good. Recruit to dilute. Well that’s good but a decision made under the Family Maintenance Act is a discretionary one. That is, it’s up to a judge to decide whether there are grounds for an order in Maxine’s favour, even if you’ve come to an agreement amongst yourselves. You may decide on your own how much Maxine should have and you two could in fact apply to be joint administrators of the estate but that would take another twenty eight days to come into effect and even then the judge has to agree to the amount that you both agree the defendant, in this case Eliza, owes the plaintiff, Maxine. None of this is difficult or riskful but it does mean you have to go to court.
We’re in a bit of a hurry said Eliza.
Isn’t everybody. He moved his hand from the glass and lifted the notepad with two blurred fingers as if he might have flung it off the desk but only dropped it there as an actor throws down evidence. More the same. He said that, I didn’t say that. Anyway going to court is expensive. My advice is that you can avoid it by offering Maxine a certain amount of money as a settlement. The formal agreement then is that on acceptance of the settlement proceedings are dismissed. You could agree on a provision and hand it over right away, then you’d be square. It depends how much capital there is and how much you think Maxine should have. Of course if there wasn’t enough you could liquidate some of Dodge’s assets. Save time and court costs.
How do we access Dodge’s money.
You need your letters of administration. I’ll sign an affidavit for the lost will and you take them with your certificates and a summary of the value of Dodge’s estate and liabilities to the Supreme Court. Get a real estate agent over to tell you how much the flat is worth, and how much it’ll cost to sell. Plus there are her possessions. You should have a professional value the contents of the flat and the cost of sale. Afraid with property and gold plummeting together, well, whaddo I know. Anyway you need to give all that into the court. I’ll help you write the forms now and give you a list of everything else you need.
We can at least look at her bank account can’t we said Eliza.
Bernard nodded swallowing. Uh of course. You need to, and you’ll have to include the balance in the value of her estate. With power of attorney you’re entitled to see how much is in there. Just go to the bank and show them her death certificate.
Certainly. Eliza turned to me. Do you have that.
I did.
Later as we were taking a long way home down Bourke Street Eliza said you don’t seem very curious about the adoption or whatever it was.
I said I didn’t know what there was to be curious about. I didn’t know what there was. Besides, the less we know about it the better it is for you.
Why.
Because if I was adopted I’d inherit everything.
Apparently Eliza hadn’t thought of this. She stopped walking and cupped her hand on her belly. Did you expect to get it all. You must resent me.