Grimmauld Place

[o_caipora]

No: HPFGUIDX 75618

"Steve" <bboy_mn at y...> wrote:

> I'll post the links to threads that have already discussed this
> directly and indirectly. 

Certainly a handy time-saver. Thank you. 

> Is it possible that through some mathimatical formula, the 
> inheritance will be distributed proportionaly amoung 
> all living relatives? 

Unlikely. Traditionally Britain went by primogeniture (= eldest male 
takes all) to prevent fortunes from being broken up. That the Black 
forture has held together since the Middle Ages suggests the Blacks 
have always done it that way.
 
> Also, thanks to Kiricat and o_caipora for bringing up the
> 'entailments' issue. That certainly complicates matters, or at
> least, complicates it relative to what I want to happen.

You're welcome. :) FYI, I don't like Draco. But unless there is a 
relative we haven't been told about yet, it looks to me like Grimauld 
Place and the Black fortune go to him.

There are two issues: rightful occupation of the house, and ownership 
of it. Three issues, if you count Kreacher.

If Sirius formally leased the house to the OOP, it could continue to 
rightfully occupy the house despite a change of ownership. If your 
landlord sells or dies, you don't lose your lease.

I somehow doubt Dumbledore and Sirius sat down and negotiated a 
lease, though.

If the house goes to a minor whose Death Eating parents are on the 
run, someone else would have to act as trustee. That decision might 
well go to the Wizengamot, the president of which could probably find 
a way to pick an OOP sympathizer as trustee. By the time Draco is of 
age the war will be over, anyways, and the OOP won't need a VWW Post.

As to who inherits the ownership, we need to look at patrimony and 
primogeniture. 

Modern society has great social mobility. The money you have is 
essentially the money you've made. The vast majority of the richest 
people in the U.S. are first- or second-generation rich, not "old 
money". 

But up to the industrial revolution, if you had money you'd inherited 
it. The word "patrimony" means "assets", but the Latin 
means "father's money". Your money wasn't yours, it was your 
family's: you had received it from your father and were expected to 
leave it to your son.

Under Brazilian law (with which I am more familiar than British) even 
today by law half of your estate goes to your children. You can't 
leave it all to a home for stray cats even if you want to. And if at 
a not-so-advanced age you decide to spend what you've made to liven 
your remaining years with wine, women and song, your children can sue 
to stop you from dissipating their inheritance.

After the American Civil War, some Confederate officers were 
penalized with the loss of their properties *for their lifetimes*. 
Use of their lands was auctioned off; when they died the lease ended 
and their sons inheirited. That makes sense if you look at the 
property as belonging to the family rather than the individual.

More exotic than wizard law, isn't it? But the spirit is in line with 
old British custom.

Assuming Sirius made a will (and he had time those long months in 
Grimauld Place), he could leave the property that did *not* come from 
his father to whomever he wanted. It would not be entailed (unless 
his uncle entailed it). His other house, his motorcycle, the money 
from his uncle and so on could well go to Harry. With months on end 
with nothing to do in Grimauld Place, he might well have written a 
will.


It's unlikely that the fortune would be split in equal parts among 
the Black cousins. It's likely it goes to the closest "pure blood" 
male blood descendent, and that's Draco. Bellatrix's descendants if 
any may be disqualified because she killed Sirius, but Draco can't be 
disqualified because he's a git. 

As to Kreacher, creating an exceptionally heavy and ungainly tea-
service for him to carry might result in him agreeing to a reduction 
in headcount under the traditional Black retirement policy.

If he couldn't carry a tea-tray, I'm sure he'd feel like hanging his 
head. 

 - Caipora