Grimmauld Place

[scooting2win]

No: HPFGUIDX 75631

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "o_caipora" <o_caipora at y...> 
wrote:
> "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

There is one problem here, Sirius uncle left him a good bit of money 
when he was around 16 and got wiped off the black family tree, in 
the chapter the ancient and noble house of black, so it appartently 
goes to who the person deceased left it too, and that would be 
Harry. i'm sure Dumbledore took take of making sure that Sirius 
prepare just in case something did happen. so therefore the house 
would be sure to be in proper hands, maybe Sirius as he had said 
before that all he could do was that house, maybe he gave that house 
to Dumbledore, for use for the order, making sure that it did not 
fall into the wrong hands, the cousins. Lori