I may have missed it, but I haven’t read what the niece thinks of this arrangement. It sounds pretty bizarre to me. Is the niece that devoted to the kids that she could be trusted with a big payout of cash?
And, I agree with **TruCelt **that the first place to go is to a bank. I don’t think lawyers need be consulted. A waste of money and time. Banks have this kind of thing down to a science. The banks have their own lawyers.