Deathwatches

[darkrosetiger.livejournal.com]

At some point, I'm going to be starting another Keptverse series, and I started wondering....what happens when a master dies? Presumably, you can will your slaves to your heirs, but until the estate is settled, would Commerce want someone in the household to make sure no one tries to run? What do people think?

ETA: To be more specific:

Lord X has been ill for several years, and has been comatose for the past few months. His breathing and heart rate suddenly become very erratic, so his Agent calls the doctor. About two hours later, the monitor flatlines. It's 3 am. What happens next?

Comments

My view would be..

[evildrem.livejournal.com]

that if slaves are property then they would be treated the same as any other property of the estate and would be the responsibility of the executors of the deceased's estate until probate had been granted and the wishes of the deceased as set out in the will could be carried out by the executors.

If an owner died intestate (no will) then administrators of his/her estate would be appointed and the whole process takes a lot longer to sort out.

I could imagine that in such circumstances if there were no heirs or surviving relatives etc who wanted to them then it would be possible that all slaves would automatically be returned to Commerce rather like here in the UK, if land is never claimed, or no one is available to inherit then it reverts to the Crown.