Chapter 7 - Natalie’s parenting plan
Natalie had created a will before she died.
Not a secret prophecy.
Ordinary estate planning.
If I died too:
First proposed guardian for Elowen:
My brother Colin Carter and his wife Beth.
Second:
Drusilla.
That surprised Drusilla when lawyers produced it later?
Maybe she knew. Let's say she knew she was second.
Why not first?
Natalie wrote no emotional explanation.
The document simply named Colin first.
I had agreed.
Drusilla hated it at the time.
She said:
“I’m her grandmother.”
Natalie answered:
“Colin is thirty-four.”
Drusilla was sixty.
Practical.
After Natalie died, I never changed the plan.
Then temporary caregiver authorization.
I had given Drusilla authority for:
School pickup.
Routine urgent-care consent during my travel.
Emergency contacts.
Not guardianship.
No general medical decision-making.
No financial authority over Elowen.
Then one document I had forgotten.
A Childcare Authorization Letter for a four-day work trip nine months earlier.
It allowed Drusilla to keep Elowen overnight.
Expired after four days.
Drusilla had copied it.
In her files, she had edited a blank template to create:
Extended Care Authorization
Not signed.
It proposed:
Drusilla as primary weekday caregiver during my travel.
Authority for school, appointments, activities.
Duration:
Six months.
No authority over trust? There was no trust yet. Wait if Natalie had life insurance? Could add a custodial support account. But central plan we said involves service and caregiving rights. We can include a life insurance/trust too? The commentary mentioned documents to gain regular care control. Could use Natalie Memorial Trust for Elowen maybe modest. Let's build.
Natalie’s life insurance funded a Carter Child Support Trust of $640,000.
Trustee:
First Mountain Trust Company.
Purpose:
Education, health, supplemental support.
I was not trustee.
Drusilla had no role.
Could a caregiver receive support if Elowen lived with them under valid arrangement?
Yes, reasonable child-specific expenses.
That gives financial motive.
Drusilla’s draft extended-care plan included budget she intended to submit if I traveled regularly.
Not huge.
$2,900/month.
Then her notes:
If Bramwell signs weekday care, trust can cover after-school, food, mileage, household share.
Could it?
Maybe.
Trustee would decide.
No automatic.
Then:
Need stable documentation that Elowen does poorly with inconsistent pickup / long dad hours.
There.
Not yet central confirmed. Ch10 deeper.
Then I realized Drusilla had been applying the same model to Elowen she used for paying families.
Create problem.
Document distress.
Offer herself as solution.
Receive compensation/support.
But did she want my daughter for money?
Probably not primarily.
Money reinforced authority.
Drusilla had enough.
Her house was paid down.
Retirement.
Consulting income.
May you like
She wanted to be necessary.
That could be more dangerous than greed.
