Güitsetgegch

Template:Region icon Kylaris A güitsetgegch or prabandhaka is a person appointed to oversee the dissolution of the estate of a deceased person, in the traditional Badist or Badist-influenced systems of inheritance of some central Coian or Satrian cultures. They are appointed by the deceased person before their death, and have considerable discretion in dealing with the estate.

Overview

A güitsetgegch must be appointed publically by an individual before their death and is typically a close friend rather than a relative. Once the appointer dies, the güitsetgegch organises the funeral and then dissolves the deceased's estate. Dispensation of assets, applicable offices, and memorabilia are entirely left to the personal discretion of the güitsetgegch, with a few regulated exceptions (surviving spouses cannot be rendered homeless, for example). Occasionally, the deceased may leave written or verbal instructions, but this is not considered legally binding and the güitsetgegch is free to ignore those wishes. Although there are no limitations on the güitsetgegch's control over inheritance gifts, commonly cited reasons to disregard the deceased wishes include behaviour towards the deceased when they are ailing, or not appearing at a funeral. After all gifts have been made, the güitsetgegch takes the remainder as a fee and the affair is considered complete.

In some cases where the affairs of the deceased may extend beyond death, (for example, the maintenance of tombs) the person who previously served as güitsetgegch will often share in the responsibility.

Compensation

Most estates are largely inherited by spouses, siblings, children and other close relatives, but a güitsetgegch may also pay themselves a fee or take whatever they may want from the estate. Since the güitsetgegch is most often a close personal friend, gifts to the self are often memorabilia or a small fee. Although the powers of the güitsetgegch are generally not limited by regulation, a share of a large estate is typically set aside for the local religious community or other public institution, some territories legally limit the fee taken for the güitsetgegch to the value of the donation.

In practice the donation parity means that a güitsetgegch can keep, at most, half of the total estate if they donate the other half to a public cause. For this reason, appointing one's spouse or other primary inheritor as güitsetgegch (or failing to appoint a güitsetgegch at all) is considered cruel, since it will require the inheritor to give up half of the estate if they wish to keep a large part of it themselves.

History

Origin

Traditional Dezevauni family structures were often webs of related people and included many adoptions between members of the extended family group. Before the emergence of the güitsetgegch figure, communities would often share the deceased's remaining food at a funeral feast and then the few permanent possessions would be split by the children, niblings, and younger cousins in order of relatedness. The process generally involved individuals simply entering the home of the deceased and taking an object or objects that seemed appropriate to them and the community. Sometimes it was necessary for a few members of the family to remain at the house during the funerary feast to keep bad actors from robbing the inheritors of family heirlooms; these figures were known as ngamuigounau, or the "death guard". These early figures eventually began to manage the rest of the inheritance process by determining who could and could not enter the home of the deceased based on their recollection of friends and enemies in the local community.

Dezevau

The ngamuigounau did not evolve into figures with legal standing in Dezevauni villages, where the mourning process was communal and the distribution of the estate largely customary and consensus-based. In the cities, however, more complex social structures and property saw the ngamuigounau become a formalised role, enforced by law. It was from this figure that the güitsetgegch developed. Later on, however, with increased formality of law and commercialisation, the role of the ngamuigounau faded. Wealthy people were able to arrange for professional ngamuigounau who were more like lawyers, who would always carry out their wishes. In the Aguda Empire, only certain government-certified ngamuigounau could be appointed, and their role was as much to distribute to beneficiaries as to assess and collect estate taxes.

Great Steppe

During the Badi Reaction, the formalised office of güitsetgegch was used by steppe people to help maintain their new Badi temples. It was more of a legal office since it did not have the same cultural context as Dezevauni urban life, and typically concerned large numbers of livestock instead of tools, clothing or jewelry. Güitsetgegches on the steppe also helped bridge distances since they held on to important gifts for months of years until the appropriate recipient was accessible. These were nicknamed "bastard gifts" since they were often given to illicit children within steppe society, a concept not important to family structures in Dezevau.

Tsustemori Khan, founder of the Togoti Khaganate, required all of his subjects to name a güitsetgegch, rejecting other inheritance traditions. This helped to fund his military campaigns, since güitsetgegch were much more likely to give large gifts to the state than children or spouses. Tsustemori's own güitsetgegch gave the entire city of Svaragni to the Stone Badi cleric Saumi, but generally is credited with maintaining the empire through its transition to the next monarch through shrewd diplomatic gifts.

Colonialism

Will-based systems were preferred by colonial authorities, in accordance with the legal systems used in the metropoles. Courts of law gradually usurped many of the functions of the güitsetgegches, in that while they enforced wills, they also had the power to vary them where the circumstances were appropriate (for example, where a beneficiary was involved in the deceased's death). Güitsetgegches remained central figures in the customary dispensation of estates, however, even into the post-colonial period, and especially in areas where colonial law did not penetrate as efficaciously.

Contemporary

Güitsetgegch remains an extremely common form of estate settlement in Satria, the Great Steppe, and Southeast Coius. Elderly adults, when advised to make a formal written will with a solicitor, often only go so far as to name their desired güitsetgegch. Even now, customary law in güitsetgegch-dominated regions may prefer the güitsetgegch's desires to a written will.