Chapter 8 - THE WILL THEY MISUNDERSTOOD
Victor demanded to see the estate plan.
Evelyn refused.
Grant joined him.
“What are you hiding?”
“Nothing.”
“Then show us.”
“No.”
Diane eventually hosted a family meeting with Evelyn’s permission.
She explained only the broad structure.
Equalization.
Lifetime advances.
Remaining estate divided after accounting for prior distributions.
Victor stared.
“You’re counting old money against us?”
“Yes,” Evelyn said.
“That was help.”
“Yes.”
“Not inheritance.”
Diane answered:
“It was help during Evelyn’s lifetime. Her estate plan says substantial advances are considered when equalizing later distributions.”
Victor looked at Claire.
“You did this.”
Claire laughed in disbelief.
“I didn’t even know the totals.”
Grant said:
“So she gets everything?”
“No,” Diane replied.
Claire would not automatically get everything.
But because she had received almost nothing during Evelyn’s lifetime, she stood to receive a larger portion of whatever remained.
That was not favoritism.
It was arithmetic.
The rural cottage Victor showed her was not a scam either.
It was cheap.
One level.
Manageable.
Evelyn might even have liked it under different circumstances.
That made the roadside argument more revealing.
Victor had selected a reasonable option.
Then treated reasonableness as authority.
When Evelyn said no, he did not hear:
She prefers something else.
He heard:
May you like
She is wasting what should eventually be ours.
Victor hated arithmetic when it arrived late.
