DEAD BEAT IN REVERSE

I am fairly sure that my cousin will not mind my re-publishing a bit of news that he submitted to a family newsletter - made me chuckle - and I hope he gets some money back!!!!

"Did you ever hear of paying a corpse? I pay spousal maintenance for my last ex-wife once a
month. I get a money order and send it to the local county clerk and they mail a check to my ex in
Arizona. In April I decided to drive to the courthouse and pay in person. The cashier pulled up the file and asked if I knew my ex-wife was dead. Quite surprised, I said, No, are you sure? (After the divorce, the ex insisted on no communication except through attorneys.) The cashier said there was a note attached to the file that she died, but because I hadn’t heard about it she thought it might be a mistake and someone attached the note to the wrong file. She said she would check it out and get back to me. 

I paid the money and left. Later that afternoon while at home, I got a call from the clerk office verifying that the note attached to the file was correct and my ex-wife was, indeed, dead. She died on April 19, 2013, over a year ago. I asked if I could get the money back I had just paid since she was dead, and the lady on the phone said No. She also verified that none of the checks sent to my ex since her death had been cashed.  She said they would have to put a stop pay on those. I asked about a refund of the year’s worth of overpayment and she said I would have to make a written request for that. That is government at work, folks. Am curious as to how many months/years I would continue paying had I not by chance stopped by the office in person."