Legalese

Well, we haven't covered the avocado yet, and so far, so good. It's only 40º F (about 4.5º C) out there this morning, but the temperature is supposed to plunge this evening so I have to get a cover on today. I'm debating whether to do it this morning before I leave for work, or this evening when Dave will be here to help but it will be dark. Or maybe I'll even come home at lunchtime. Decisions, decisions.

I've been having a back-and-forth with the attorney I hired to do our estate planning. This guy has done legal work for others in my family and I chose him for that reason, asking him to write a will for me and Dave. I paid him for his services, and then the will then turned into a trust, which turned into multiple trusts. It seemed to be getting very complicated and he was having doubts about his approach because we have assets in two countries, so he brought in another lawyer with experience in Britain. This lawyer consulted with us once and said the trusts could be a problem, but then stopped returning my calls, which often happens when they see how complicated our situation is relative to how much money we have (not much).

The funny thing is, it's really not that complicated. We don't have kids. We don't own real estate. It's all liquid assets. But since the first lawyer bailed, I've tried three more on both sides of the pond, and after an initial consultation they've all either declined to take our case or simply stopped calling me back. (It's not my personality, I swear.)

So estate planning is still in limbo. The back-and-forth is resulting from the fact that I pre-paid the first lawyer. He offered to refund part of our money, and I've been pressing him to follow through with that, but getting money out of a lawyer is not easy. I do want him to pay himself for his time, because I sort of talked him into taking our case, but after all, we didn't get a finished product -- so I feel like I'm due something. He has finally agreed to refund us $500, which is about an eighth of what I paid him. It's better that nothing.

(I can tell already this post is going to attract all kinds of spam comments from estate planners. Please refrain, spammers! I will not hire you based on a blog comment!)

I'm also trying to schedule a meeting with my financial planners, given that I'm about to retire, to talk to them about options. I blew the last meeting on Zoom because I totally forgot about it -- unlike me, but it's been busy around here.

It's hard to be a responsible adult, you know?

Meanwhile, in the library, my days have been nonstop. Yesterday was particularly crazy: multiple classes, several carts of re-shelving, two stints in the Lower School, a stack of new books to cover and of course my regular checking in and out. One of the librarians organized a family book club that involved setting up an "Everest Base Camp" in the library. Fortunately, I didn't have to help with that, but just as I left yesterday evening someone was erecting a tent in the middle of the floor! Get me out of here!

(Photos: A flower shop in West Hampstead, and graffiti on my walk to work.)