The Order ...moving Headquarters, & Black Estate

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 97768

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "kitkateseven" <ksargean at g...>
wrote:
> > Lady Kate: 
> > 
> > I have also wondered that with Sirius dead, who would inherit
Grimmauld Place?
> > Would it be Narcissa, and thus by marriage Lucius Malfoy?  That
could have some
> > interesting implications back at Hogwarts.
> 


> kitkateseven:
> 
> I'd always just kind of assumed that Harry, as Sirius' godson and 
> definitely the person who Sirius favors more than anyone in his own 
> biological family, would inherit everything--including Grimmauld 
> Place.
> 
> Of course, that alone might make the house suspect.
> 
> Also, would Sirius have put Harry in his will before his arrest?  If 
> not, can wizards make changes to legal documents from Azkaban?
> 
> --Kate

bboy_mn:

I posted some links today to the previous Inheritance discussions-
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/97750
...scroll to the middle of that post.

First, if there is no clear Will, then Harry inherits nothing; it all
goes to Sirius's aunts and uncles, cousins, and/or nephew/nieces.

I want Harry, or someone very close to him, to inherit the Black
Estate, but that won't happen without a Will from Sirius. I think
Sirius was too young to think about a Will before he went to prison,
and most likely, before he went to prison, he had living family.

In prison, I don't think he had the willpower or inclination to do
much of anything about anything, so I don't think a Will would appear
from that period of time.

But, all those long lonely hours at 12 Grimmauld Place with nothing to
do but think and worry, to especially worry about Harry. I suspect he
may have written a will at that time. He would certainly know how much
danger the new war would bring, and there was a likelihood that he
might die in that war, and he was certainly well aware the he was the
last of the direct line of Blacks. Therefore, in late lonely
ruminations, he would have written a Will naming predominantly Harry
as the beneficiary. Most likely he would have had someone in the Order
witness (by signature) the Will thereby authenticating it.

I think that is the best scenerio, but it doesn't solve everything.

First, no one needs to do anything until it is established that Sirius
is dead. As long as he lives or appears to live, he controls the
house, and therefore, to most people, it would be assumed that the
house was sitting empty and unused. That means the Order can continue
to use it. 

The Order's headquarter while the Ministry opposes them must remain a
secret, but now that the Ministry has admitted that Voldemort is back
and a new war is on, I say, the headquarters only needs to be secure
and not well known; but not necessarily an absolute secret. 

That takes care of the Order's headquarters, but doesn't resolve
Sirius's or the Black family estates. That can't happen until Sirius
is proven innocent. As long as he is an escaped convict, his Will
carries little weight and the people who witnessed it with a signature
can't admit they have been consorting with a criminal. So, once the
Order is ready to resolve the Estate, the first step is to prove
Sirius innocent.

The second step, is to get Sirius's Will accepted as valid. That could
be a problem because the greedy Malfoy's will surely contest it. That
provides a nice point of conflict and hostility between Harry and Draco.

Then finally, once Sirius is innocent and his Will is valid, the
dispensation of Sirius and the Black family assets can begin. 

Keep in mind that there are TWO separate (but related) estates; there
is the Black Family Estate and Sirius Black's personal estate. They
don't necessarily have to have the same resolution.

I think the beginning of book Six is a little to soon to deal with the
Estate, but closer to then end of the book, it may begin, and will
then be resolved in book Seven.

Just a few thoughts

bboy_mn