THE CORNERSTONE OF INHERITANCE

   Big deal. A Will is a Will is a Will.

   Not so. All Wills are not the same. And if you think that they are the same, by the time you finish reading this page, you’ll see how different they can be. I’m not going to go into the history of wills. I’ll leave that for you to read on your own time. 

   Right now, I would like to reveal a mistake or two made by individuals who should have known better. This applies as much to the testator as it does to the attorney who drew up the will. The first story is about a modest estate. The second one is about a billionaire’s will.

   A woman in New York City died, leaving her personal belongings, including her jewelry, to her two daughters. Both sisters wanted the same pair of earrings and neither one would agree to let the other have it. No matter how many times their mother’s Executor reminded them that the estate couldn’t be settled until one of them conceded to the other, neither one would budge. Close to a year passed before the sisters – who had not spoken to each other in over six months - agreed with the Executor’s suggestion to take one earring. A senseless loss of family over a personal item.

   No matter how inconsequential something may seem to be by the person who is going to sign the will, it bears emphasizing that you be specific in your will. If you have children, you’ll know which one likes something in particular.  

   Just make sure that your children know about your intents well in advance. That way, nobody has a legal complaint later on.

   My mother’s original will left her estate in equal proportions to her four children. She even outlined in her will how we were to divide her furnishings, jewelry, and other personal effects. We were to draw a number from a hat and take turns choosing what we would like. In the end, if one or more of us seemed to have less in total equal value than another, the discrepancy would be rectified through money realized when her Sea Island Georgia ouse was sold.

   When financier J. Paul Getty died in 1976, he created headaches of enormous size for his heirs, starting with his son Gordon who was sole trustee. Getty left a $4 billion estate in trust with orders that it only invest in federal notes from seven countries (Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Canada, Great Britain, and the U. S.) and that no more than twenty-five percent could be invested in any one country. 

THE GOLDEN APPLE OF DISCORD

  Why am I writing this blog? In the hope that natural curiosity will keep you reading beyond these opening lines so that your family never experiences what happened to us. 

   If, years ago, anyone had predicted that one day my siblings and I would be locked in litigation over our mother’s estate, I would have called that person mad. Us? Never! Yet, less than a month after Mother died alone in Atlanta, the unthinkable loomed a certainty. 

   A New York attorney shocked me when he brushed aside my reason for calling. He said there was “nothing unusual” in our lawsuit against the executor of Mother’s estate. Nothing unusual. 

   Another lawyer explained why it is so common: Parents who have more than child “toss the golden apple of discord into the banquet” when they name one of their children sole executor of their Last Will & Testament. This singular role gives the unethical child legal means to manipulate it. 

   In the immediate days following Mother’s death in Atlanta, my sister Susan tried to get information from our older half-brother, the surprising sole executor of Mother’s estate. (“surprising” because Mother had vowed never to remove Trust Company of Georgia as co-executor.)

   When Bobby refused to answer Susan’s questions and threatened to revoke her share of the estate, she wrote him that we were new to this, so of course we had questions. But a lawyer friend in Maryland who read her letter, advised her to tear it up and retain one of three Atlanta attorneys.  

   A week later, Susan called me in East Hampton and told me to get a lawyer. I disagreed because I’d always known that my quarter share would be held in trust. But I soon learned she was right. 

   When Bobby visited me late July, he asked me to sign a document after he told me that Susan had signed her copy, the day before. I had no reason to doubt him but when I mentioned this to Susan in December, she didn’t know what I was talking about. She hadn’t seen Bobby since Easter. 

   If you have time, visit  http://allaboutbrothers.blogspot.com  . There, you can download a copy of O Brother! for 99 cents. Yes, for ninety-nine cents. Writing O Brother! was my escape from our four-year lawsuit against our mother's executor O Brother! is dedicated in memory to our brother, David. Had he been alive before Mother died, none of tis would have happened.

   Be on the lookout tomorrow for more. By the time you have read six months worth of weekly posts, you should know enough to alert family and friends to draft wills and sign them.