Squatters

First of all, my GP explained the chemo thing to me. Chemo is hard on your system, to put it mildly. It damages more than the cancer cells. So, if the cancer is inactive, they prefer not to give you chemo.

As to exactly what is left beside the two main tumours, she said to come in after my next scan and we'd go over it.

I like my GP and feel kind of bad that we are leaving her because WE ARE MOVING!

We still don't know what the hearing was about, but . . . let me back up: Inheritance law in France is unique. Napolean wanted to break the tradition of the aristocracy and the landed gentry leaving everything to the eldest son (primogeniture; it's what makes those vast estates in England to this day), so now the law is this: Your spouse is entitled to 1/4 of all your property and has the right to live in your house for the duration. Your parents and your children are entitled to equal shares. It's more complicated than that, but that will do for discussion.

So, consider. A couple die and they had 7 children. The property is divided equally among the 7. Some have died, though, and their shares devolve equally on their children. You now have many, many heirs who are scattered to the four winds, some of whom don't talk to each other. None of them want the damned house, anyway.

You come along as a buyer. The heirs, including those who have been lost for thirty years and must be traced, have to agree a price and the division of spoils. Need I say more?

Back to the present, we are dealing with an uncle and his nephew, who appear to be acting on behalf of the rest of the family. Both have their own notaires -- do you get a feeling of family harmony here? -- and both notaires have hired their own liquidateur-judicière. The l-js are dealing with the debt (back taxes and mortgages) and the judge.

One of the l-js, probably, asked for the most recent hearing before the judge. The judge ruled favourably and the release was sent by one of the l-js to our notaire. But not the other. ("He agrees, he agrees," say our notaire and estate agent, "The paper is only a formality." A formality, without which, we cannot sign the contract.

Earlier this week, I called our notaire and the estate agent and said that the following day was the last day we could cancel the contract, so I was going to. We couldn't take the chance that everything would be postponed indefinitely. Cutting to the result:

We have a letter from the uncle and his nephew saying that we can move in as of Wednesday of this week. And that, if the signing date gets postponed for whatever reason, we are still the buyers and we get the house.

And the second l-j has sent through the paperwork.

So we're moving. Over the next two weeks.

Whew!