The Letter of the Law

Dearest Rachel –

I really thought this was long since over and done with by now, honey. Most of your parents’ estate issues seemed to have been sorted out even before the lockdown clamped down on us – although not entirely, which is part of why we were caught unprepared by the fact that you had no will yourself (although let’s face it; we assumed we would have plenty of time to deal with that in the years to come. Shows what we knew).

But in the process of digging up Daniel’s birth certificate, in order to update some other identity documentation for him, I discovered a couple of bonds that, while younger than some that have yet to come due, had already completely matured a couple of months ago. Unfortunately, they were issued in your mom’s name and, failing that, yours, which meant that there was no one alive to claim them directly.

At the same time, this didn’t seem terribly insurmountable. I figured I could just take them to the bank as per usual, along with the appropriate death certificates indicating that you and your mother – the individuals named on the bonds – were deceased, and claim the funds as a surviving beneficiary (although, given my understanding of your estate, I’d consider myself obliged to split the proceeds evenly between myself and Daniel). This is a procedure that had been used successfully several times before, so I saw no reason to think that it wouldn’t work this time around, too.

However, I hadn’t counted upon the rules being different based on the letter in the corner of the bond itself. Apparently, “HH” bonds don’t work the same way as “E” or “EE” bonds do. For one, assuming they’re held to maturity (which at this point is a given, as they all matured in 2024; not just the ones I found, but all “HH” bonds. It would seem that the program was discontinued completely in 2004, due to limited demand and poor cost-benefit on their issuance), they’re actually worth the amount on their face, which you’d think would make them that much simpler to cash. That appears to be the only thing they have going for them, however, as there are more than a few legal hoops to jump through to redeem them – which may explain why there was so little demand for them in the first place.

And obviously, the fact that neither of you two are around to claim the proceeds yourselves adds to the level of complexity. The upshot was that the bank couldn’t simply cash them and deposit the funds into the account I had with them, for me to distribute half to Daniel in accordance with what I’ve come to assume to be your wishes. This was something where I would have to enlist our lawyer, the one who had guided us through sorting out your parents’ will – and with whom we discussed, if never officially codified, certain wishes that at least gave me a rough idea of what to do with what you left behind.

So that was where I was yesterday morning, in the one thing that day that felt out of the ordinary. At this point, this has been an outstanding issue for over a month now, between finding these bonds in the first place, trying (and failing) to redeem them, and finally arranging a suitably convenient time to meet with our attorney to have this sorted out, especially in the midst of keeping an eye on Dad during his crisis.

I’d also gotten something in the mail a little while back from… some place that apparently managed one of your mother’s pension plans that we weren’t aware of until just this February, and to which you would supposedly be entitled to if you were still around. Now, in comparison to the bonds, the amount being discussed was a relative pittance, so I didn’t plan to jump through the required hoops to see if it could be claimed. But I’d had it on a back burner rather than discarding it out of hand up until now, and as long as I was bringing a larger issue to our attorney, I figured there was no reason not to have him look into this other matter as well.

There’s something ironic about the fact that he told me that the pension would be easier to address and claim than the bonds. That information came with a form or two to fill out and remit, whereas the bonds were just the documents themselves, with no indication that they would be any different than others I’d dealt with in the past, other than the letter in the corner. Fortunately, he has an individual on his staff who specializes in dealing with such financial instruments, so it’s not as if the redemption process is impossible, either. They still have to put together an engagement letter for me to agree to before they start in on any work; have to follow the letter of the law, after all.

So I doubt this will be ready before we head out in a week and w half; indeed, it may still be in progress by the time we return, in fact. Which is fine; I’ve inadvertently sat upon them for nearly two years since they should have been redeemed, so what’s another month or two? But it was surprising that, for being the one unusual thing about yesterday – and having been built up for nearly a month beforehand – once we were in person, everything was agreed to and the relevant documents handed over in a matter of a few minutes. I really assumed it was going to be more involved than all that.

Not that I’m complaining or anything; I’d rather have it taken care of and be on my way, to be honest. And while I’m on my way, I’d appreciate it if you’d continue to keep an eye on me, and wish me well. I’m still going to need it.