4/9 - Back at the house

My sister and I wanted to go back to the house to speak with Her about general stuff that's happening with the store as well as some other issues.

We updated Her on some stuff that is happening with the store and the insurance companies and the public adjusters. Clara made it very clear that meetings are slowing down (now that the initial batch of meetings have taken place; we're mostly waiting to hear back from the fire department about the fire report before we're even allowed to take anything out of the store since it's still evidence) but that Clara is still updating Her about EVERY SINGLE MEETING that takes place. SHE sounded skeptical, but we insisted that it was true (because it is), and we repeated again for the tenth time that She is completely 100% free to call the public adjusters at ANY time to ask ANY questions since She hired them too.

(We tried to make this extremely clear, and we repeated this multiple times because we really wanted to drill it into Her head since I'm pretty sure She uses not-realizing-She-can-contact-the-public-adjusters-Herself as an excuse to both not actively participate in insurance stuff and later blame us that we deliberately kept Her out of the loop because we're trying to be evil, etc. I repeated to Her several times that night to CALL THE PUBLIC ADJUSTERS THE NEXT DAY.)

ALSO, She has been setting our mail aside for us when we do go back (although at this point I've changed the majority of my major accounts like banking and credit cards to another address), She also has set aside bills for the BUILDING (and not the business... as Her Letter states, neither my sister nor I have any business [ha] dealing with the building) for us to pay (She set this aside the last time Clara picked up the mail). We returned the bills (one for United Water, one for town taxes) to Her and explained very plainly that neither Clara nor I am responsible for paying these bills. I also added that it is IMPERATIVE that She pay the town tax bill immediately because the late fees are massive (10% I think since we were late in paying the bill most close to my dad's date of death). She asked that if these bills did not need to be paid because of the fire to which we replied that they ABSOLUTELY need to be paid anyway because it is for the property. We stressed to Her that She should talk to the public adjusters about the check for the BUILDING bank account so that She can pay this bill. I repeated to Her again that She needs to PAY THIS BILL and if She has any questions, She should contact the public adjusters HERSELF and ask them directly since She also signed a contract to hire them.

(I still think that She may be under the impression that these bills will go away because of the fire; however, since these bills are for the BUILDING, it is really no longer should be of my concern.)

Clara and I also asked Her what She plans on doing in regards to The Letter. She played dumb (or maybe She just IS dumb) and asked why we are so concerned about The Letter. I said to Her, "Are you kidding? That Letter affects our [my sister's and my] lives! How can you ask that?" Since She sent The Letter without speaking to us first and trying to work out any problems first (since She went straight to a lawyer and blindsided us with The Letter), Clara and I were concerned that She would go straight to the lawyer again and have him send us a letter demanding why we have not responded in a timely manner (although I must point to our previous attempts to schedule a meeting with all of our lawyers and her lies regarding having to meet people at church, so in that sense, She is the uncooperative one).

SHE basically kept repeating that She did not send The Letter herself and that Her lawyer did. We kept trying to drill it into Her head that when a person contacts a lawyer for representation, any contact that a lawyer makes with the opposite party is supposed to represent THAT person who hired the lawyer, i.e. HER. (That is what is so frustrating; She tries to insist that She has no idea what was IN the letter and that Her lawyer wrote the whole thing. Again, I've expressed my views about this in previous posts.)

We asked Her what She wanted to do about the things mentioned in The Letter since the fire obviously changed so many aspects of it, and She just evaded our questions. She kept asking why we needed to meet at all with lawyers, and we reminded Her that She was the one who started the whole ordeal as an "us versus you" situation by hiring Her own lawyer and having him send us The Letter. We kept asking Her what She wanted to do since things in The Letter have changed because of the fire, and She would not answer our questions directly.

(I realize that my descriptions of what happens while speaking with Her sound repetitive and lacking a point, but that is really how things happen when we speak with Her. We ask Her direct questions, and She gives us evasive answers.)

Speaking about the business was getting us nowhere, so we picked the easiest point in The Letter, i.e., Her having problems with the way my father's final tax return was prepared. We asked Her WHAT EXACTLY She did not like about the tax preparation, and She replied that She did not know, only that Her lawyer mentioned to Her that there were problems that HE saw with the tax return. (Let me state that the way the tax return was prepared has absolutely nothing to do with Clara or myself and that OUR LAWYERS prepared the return and that the three of us ALL SIGNED it in November out of our free will because we three hired them to do that job.) We reminded Her that She signed the return (and supposedly read it after our lawyers gave us ALL copies for our review) in their offices out of Her own free will, but She said that Her new lawyer mentioned that it was prepared badly. (I do not think She understands that once you sign something, it is SIGNED.)

I think that's it... my sister and I tried to stress that we want to work TOGETHER with Her to make things easier and smoother for when things are finishing up with the insurance companies. She seemed to be very keen on that idea; however, I can't necessarily rely on that just because in the past, obviously, things have seemed to be fine with Her and then She goes to a lawyer to send us threatening documents.

We said bye and I reminded Her again to CALL THE PUBLIC ADJUSTERS. I asked if She still had their contact information, and She said yes.

I think that's it for now...