When money is involved, there is always a chance that things can get
contentious.

There have been some cases that I have seen where enslaved people were
loaned to (usually elder) siblings by a parent before their death, and
younger heirs (via guardian) wanted that value calculated into the
division. Similarly, there were scenarios where there was a debate between
heirs about whether an enslaved person(s) were loaned or given before a
parent's death and whether those enslaved people should be left out or put
into the estate valuation.



*Vincent T. Brooks*
Senior Local Records Archivist
Library of Virginia
800 East Broad St.
Richmond, VA 23219
804-692-3525
Fax 804-692-2277
*The Uncommonwealth* <https://uncommonwealth.virginiamemory.com/>



On Mon, Oct 18, 2021 at 12:39 PM Leveen, Lois <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

> Thank you, David and Vince, for the swift answers.  (Bonus points for
> making me feel like my best guess was more or less correct)
>
> Is it correct to presume that these "formalities" could become a bit more
> contentious if, for example, the guardian of the minor heirs pushed back on
> some point?  (Several of these estates involve a great deal of real estate
> holdings, and also in some cases enslaved people as property, and I can
> imagine instances in which one party would wish the estate to sell off
> either a parcel of land or perhaps some of the enslaved people, to meet
> some expense of the estate, while another party would want those assets to
> remain intact and have costs meant some other way, say through sale of
> stocks.)
>
> -Lois
>
> Lois Leveen, Ph.D.
> she/her/hers
> Virginia Humanities Fellow
> Library of Virginia
> 800 East Broad Street
> Richmond, VA 23219
>
>
> On Mon, Oct 18, 2021 at 11:43 AM David Talley <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> > It's got something to do with the formalities of the court.  Everything
> > has to be filed as "somebody vs. somebody", even if everybody agrees on
> how
> > the case should be settled.  You typically see divisions like "heirs who
> > live in state" vs. "heirs who live out of state" or "adult heirs" vs.
> > "minor heirs".  Sometimes the bill of complaint and the reply are even
> > written on the same piece of paper by the same lawyer.
> >
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