It’s time for everyone’s favorite game, “Relatives fighting about money and a will!” Today’s contestants are four of siblings (for convenience, we’ll say they are my cousins): Alex, Bertha, Chuck, and Diane.
Their mother, Ethel, is still alive. She’s long since divorced from their father, Franklin, who doesn’t figure in this story.
Alex died fairly young, unmarried, with no kids. His will specified that his estate should be divided equally among his surviving siblings. He didn’t leave behind any goods or investments worth fighting over or liquidating, but he did have some money in the bank. There’s some question about just how much money there was, but everyone agrees it wasn’t a lot - maybe $10,000 in all.
Bertha, the oldest surviving sibling, was named executor. She divided the money into equal shares for each sibling, but didn’t distribute it to Chuck, Diane, and herself. Instead, she created a trust for the children of each surviving sibling (her kids, Chuck’s kids, and Diane’s kids) and deposited each sibling’s share into one of the trust funds. Bertha justified this by saying, “Chuck and Diane are spendthrifts who will just piss the money away, and their kids will need it for college.”
Chuck and Diane weren’t happy with this. Ethel wasn’t pleased, either. The will said the money should go to Alex’s siblings, and Bertha didn’t do this. Chuck and Diane, regardless of their financial skills, are neither incapacitated nor legally prohibited from receiving the money. Chuck, Diane, and Ethel aren’t talking to Bertha anymore.
My feeling is that Bertha meant well, but overstepped her authority. Some of the other family members don’t agree with me, though. They feel that Ethel is being especially obnoxious by allowing an argument over money to separate her from Bertha. Chuck sides with Ethel, while Diane has her own gripes with Ethel and isn’t talking to her mother, either.
Weigh in, please.