After a startled moment, this seemed to strike Ms. Devonshire as funny, and when she smiled this time, it worked and she was suddenly very attractive. “No, I suppose that isn’t the correct thing to do. But I will have to apologize to him next time I see him. Now, what is the process of transfernng Margot’s accounts into my name? I will need some money—I’m about broke, and I don’t have a job, and I probably won’t have a place to stay real soon.”

“Then we will begin at once to get the process started—you will need to select a lawyer ... ?” He paused, hesitating.

And she replied on cue, “I hope you will represent me. If Margot trusted you, then I know I can do the same.”

“Thank you. You will need to go through Hennepin County Probate Court. We’ll draw up a petition to have you appointed as personal representative. I’ll start that at once, and will help you write the announcement you will have to publish in the newspaper, telling people who are owed money to contact you. There will be a brief hearing in court. It will take about a month between the filing of the petition and the hearing.” He consulted a leather-bound appointment book. “If I contact them today, we can probably get a hearing around October fifteenth. You must be there to ask the judge to appoint you, and anyone who has any opposition to that will have a chance to be heard. I doubt there will be any trouble of that sort.

“You will gather together all the assets, pay all debts, distribute what’s left to heirs—that is, yourself—and close the estate. We’ll ask for unsupervised administration, which should be no problem. Then you file a personal-representative statement to close the estate. It will take at least four months before you can do that, to give creditors time to file claims. So six or seven months overall.”

Betsy said, “It sounds very complicated.”

“It’s not, trust me. The procedure is well established and easy to follow. The most complicated part will be computing the taxes, because Congress is reworking the tax codes again. With the old six-hundred-thousand exemption, you can figure a little over two million subject to tax. They are reworking the exemption now, but you’ll probably be paying thirty-two percent or more. Minnesota estate tax starts at nine percent.”

“So the checks to the state and fed will be dillies.”

“Yes, I’m afraid so.”

“But what about my living expenses, rent and bills and all, in the meantime?”

“Technically, you are not supposed to give yourself any money from the estate even after you are appointed, not until the period of probate runs out; but you can keep records and reimburse yourself. If you are truly in need, we can petition the court to allow you maintenance.”