Chapter 6 - DANIEL'S COMPANY WAS FAILING
Daniel ran Harlow Meridian Development.
Not Richard’s main company.
A venture Daniel started with outside investors.
For years it looked successful.
Then rates rose.
Two projects stalled.
One lender threatened default.
Daniel personally guaranteed part of a bridge facility.
Exposure:
$3.4 million.
Claire had not known.
Daniel expected future family distributions to stabilize him.
But Richard refused.
“I’m not using Lily’s trust to rescue your deals.”
Daniel hated that.
Then he discovered the protective subtrust would place even more family capital beyond his reach.
Claire as representative.
Independent trustee approval.
Lily as beneficiary.
Daniel saw the structure as:
Richard controlling his marriage through money.
Richard saw it as:
protecting daughter and granddaughter from Daniel’s risk-taking.
Both were partly true.
Then Daniel asked family counsel whether separation before Lily’s second birthday could delay the transfer.
He was told:
Potentially, depending on facts.
He built a strategy around uncertainty.
May you like
Not certainty.
Leverage.
