Chapter 8 - THE NOTE COMES DUEDana ordered updated financials before deciding anything about extending the $420,000 note.
Charles resisted.
He said Andrew had always intended to extend.
Dana asked for that in writing.
There was none.
Charles produced an email from two years earlier:
Dad, we’ll deal with the balloon when we get there. Nobody is throwing you into the street.
Not an extension agreement.
Evidence Andrew probably intended flexibility.
Relevant.
Not binding.
Then the numbers arrived.
The house was worth around $1.65 million.
First mortgage balance:
$586,000.
Andrew’s estate note:
$420,000 principal plus modest accrued interest.
Plenty of theoretical equity.
But Charles and Sylvia’s monthly cash flow was weak.
Social Security.
A small pension.
Investment withdrawals.
Charles’s consulting income declining.
They also carried approximately $94,000 in credit-card and personal-line debt.
I had not known that.
Then Dana found another issue.
For ten months after Andrew died, Charles had continued using an old business expense card tied to Andrew’s consulting company.
Not stolen in the classic sense.
Charles had been an authorized user when Andrew was alive because he occasionally purchased materials for shared projects.
Nobody canceled the card immediately.
Charges after Andrew’s death totaled $26,380.
Groceries.
Restaurant meals.
Wine.
Landscaping.
Club dues.
One weekend hotel stay.
Some could arguably relate to winding down shared work.
Most could not.
The company had paid automatically.
I had missed it because grief made me a poor bookkeeper for several months and the accountant grouped the charges under “legacy project expenses.”
Dana asked:
“Did you authorize continued personal support through the company card?”
“No.”
“Did Andrew?”
“Not after death.”
Obviously.
This changed the extension question.
Not because they had insulted Nina.
Because Charles had failed to disclose debts and had been using an estate-connected payment channel for personal living expenses.
Extending a secured loan without a repayment plan now looked less prudent.
The dinner did not create the financial problem.
May you like
It stopped me from assuming good faith before reviewing it.
That distinction mattered.
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