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.