#as my beloved wills and estates teacher kept thundering

[zahri-melitor]

And while I’m on the topic of this, it is perfectly possible to have the law recognise that you have two legal spouses in terms of deceased estates in my jurisdiction.

Unfortunately this is not designed with poly families in mind so they still have a lot of wrangling to set up wills to cover things properly, but if say you’re married to someone, separate from them and do not get divorced, and then get into a new relationship with someone else and have been living together as a couple for at least two years at the date of death? Both of those people are your spouses, and will be treated as such under the law in respect of their entitlement to your estate.

Particularly if you haven’t had a property settlement with your first partner, but that’s not necessarily a bar either.

[isoldegreyffxiv]

What if Isolde, in her elderly years, owns a theater and runs a ballet school?

Charles Grey had loved all of his children, but there was no mistaking that his youngest child and only daughter had a special place in his heart. And so, when he passed at a ripe old age, it was no surprise that her cut of the inheritance was larger than that of her brothers’. 

“You have dreams that need some extra funding, my fey,” Charles had rumbled to her one night, while he lay sick and weak in bed. “Papa will look out for you, always, even long after I’m gone.”

It was in memorial of her father that the ballroom she had grown up learning to perform in within the Grey manor was turned into an actual school, for both opera and for ballet. Her brothers had moved out of the manor with spouses and children of their own, and though Isolde had been long married to Dietrich and dwelling in a home he built them with his own hands, she hadn’t the heart to sell the manor. It was just as well, then, that the massive estate was built into a grand, glittering theater. 

She had retired from the stage at an old age, with a career that flourished and a name that was now one spoken commonly in households. The Siren of La Noscea, the Pearl of the Stage - a beloved singer with a range that left people breathless, a ballet dancer with grace unmatched, with beauty and passion that radiated from the inside out. Content though Isolde was to lead a private and quiet life, she decided that her talents could be passed onto a younger generation of people who would take the stage and leave their mark on the history of the arts, too. 

An older Isolde dressed simply, often with a vibrantly hued silk shawl tucked around her shoulders and arms. The white grand piano her mother favored in her lessons remained in the ballroom-turned-classroom, and it was from here that either she or her pianist played. She kept time of each dancer with taps of her wooden cane, squinting and paying close attention to every pirouette and leap. Though she was not one to dole out praise immediately, she was a capable and kind teacher, generous with advice and endlessly patience. And, when praise had been earned, it was given with a smile, dimples and laugh lines sticking out through wrinkles upon her face. Her hair had lost its auburn shine and was, instead, a sweeping length of white that she kept loose down her back. Through golden eyes she watched these upcoming dancers singers, and it reminded her youth, of the vigor and agility she had once had. When they danced across the stage built in her childhood home, when their voices echoed out around the room and swelled and faded in just the right spots, and they received thunderous applause, she received it with a mixture of pride and nostalgia. In truth, Isolde missed the stage, despite a legendary career. 

She was well loved by her students, and she was forever willing to offer extra help, even if she could become firm in her teachings. Mistakes were tolerated, but many of them were not. Her words would become sharp, the rapping of her cane against the floor louder to silence the music and still the dancers, to cut the voices that kept wandering off pitch or ones that were being pushed far past where they ought to go. 

“You’ll ruin your vocal chords if you push them like that. Have you so quickly forgotten the techniques I’ve shown you?”

“Another fall like that, and you’ll have a broken ankle. Sit down and let Maria show you what’s meant to be done. Watch closely. I expect you to know exactly what you’re doing when you stand again!”

Despite the occasional sharpness of her lessons, she was also funny, patient, and immensely knowledgeable. She was glamorous in an often simple way, with a beauty that had not diminished with age; it had just aged with her, but there remained a youthful glow about her. Passionate, there was no room for complaints about her lessons in her classroom. There was no disrespect of her stage, no patience for laziness or apathy. Isolde hadn’t the time for young people who had no interest in learning, and they were promptly excused from the Grey School of the Arts. Those who had an earnest desire to learn, to better themselves in their music, and to work hard found themselves a comfortable home under the wing and tutelage of Isolde Grey-Stone. 

(( Thank you for this question, anon! It’s a really fun concept and I’m so sorry it took me so long to get this knocked out! ))