All of Them: You take two-thirds of the expenses off the price of the house.
Me: No, you take the total expenses off.
All of Them: No, because then the two of you are paying her share. Listen, we’ve handled hundreds of these things…
Me (thinking, Well, I’d start making some phone calls if I were you): No, look here, see, you have to…
I may not be the most honest person in the world, but I do try to always be fair. And though I’m not real happy with what my sister has done, I would not allow her to be unfairly paying double her share as she’d already paid all the expenses of the estate. It is a confusing situation and I myself was not totally sure so I worked it out several ways and still checked with two genius friends and a CPA to confirm the figures.
Sometimes you just give in, walk away with either a glib answer or retire and give it up because you know they’ll never really understand. But this I cannot easily walk away from because other people are involved and it is important. I am so very tired.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology