RECORD — reply RECEIVED by Maximus Wild from Kelly Hales
Received: 2026-07-13 (to Max's phone), 10 days after Max's 2026-07-03 request.
Preserved here because it lives in Max's thread, not Michael's.

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I have told your dad you guys need to get a Saskatchewan lawyer to sign the
paperwork saying you want to take over now, after that is done then we can
move on from there. I have 6 years of info in a binder waiting for you guys.
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NOTES FOR THE FILE (2026-07-13, not legal advice):

1. She did not answer any of Max's 5 questions (accounting, title, transfer
   plan, vehicles, personal property). But this is the first cooperative
   signal on record: she confirms records EXIST ("6 years of info in a
   binder") and frames a handover path.

2. Reading: Kelly appears to want OUT of the executor role and is putting the
   burden (and legal cost) of the handover on the beneficiaries. That is
   consistent with the "overwhelmed rural executor" reading — and it converges
   on the step already planned independently: hire a Saskatchewan estates
   lawyer. Her ask and our plan are now the same action.

3. CAUTION — "sign the paperwork saying you want to take over now" is not a
   thing that exists as a single standard document. Plausible things she may
   mean, for the lawyer to sort out:
   - a renunciation/discharge of her as executor + appointment of a
     replacement trustee;
   - a RELEASE of the executor from liability. Classic sequencing trap:
     executor offers records/assets in exchange for a release signed FIRST.
     Correct order is accounting first, release after review. Neither son
     signs ANYTHING before a lawyer reviews the binder/accounting.
   - Note the binder covers "6 years" — the estate is 7.5 years old
     (death 2019-02-01). Ask about the gap.

4. "Take over NOW" also cannot cleanly happen yet: the will vests the whole
   estate in both sons only when Dexter turns 18 (2027-03-13), and Dexter is
   still a minor (cannot consent to an early wind-up). Mechanism for any
   early handover (substitute trustee, court approval, or wait to vesting)
   is a lawyer question. Also still unresolved: was the will ever probated,
   and the Clause 6 / Christopher Birn joint-title question (ISC search).

5. STRATEGIC UPSIDE: the lawyer engagement is no longer adversarial — Kelly
   herself directed the beneficiaries to get one. The consult should now be
   booked immediately; the ISC title search still ordered independently.

STATUS DELTA vs Situation-summary section 10:
- Kelly reply: RECEIVED 2026-07-13 (this file).
- ISC title search: still NOT ordered.
- Lawyer consult: still NOT booked — now the immediate next action, invited
  by the executor herself.