Chapter 15 - BRIAN’S FEAR OF MY WILLNina found the estate-planning connection before I did.
My will divided my estate between Brian and a charitable trust, with separate education gifts for any grandchildren I had knowingly included through an attached schedule.
At the time Elaine and I last updated documents, the only grandchild listed was my niece’s daughter? Wait, not my descendant. No.
Brian and Melissa had no children together.
I had no known grandchildren.
The document included a clause:
Any later-born or legally recognized descendants shall be considered according to applicable law unless expressly excluded.
Nothing exotic.
Not a giant dynasty.
My total assets:
House.
Retirement.
Investment portfolio.
Roughly $2.4 million net after taxes and liabilities at the time.
Comfortable.
Not enough to justify ruining several lives.
Brian feared that if I learned about Eli, I would change my will.
“Against you?”
I asked.
He answered:
“For him.”
“That is not against you.”
“In practice it is.”
There.
Scarcity thinking.
Brian had spent years viewing affection and money as fixed pie.
If Eli entered, Brian lost.
If I helped April, Brian lost.
If Elaine loved the boy, Brian lost.
If I knew the truth, Brian could no longer control the terms.
His lie was not only shame.
It was allocation.
Of money.
Attention.
May you like
Identity.
That made me angrier than paternity.
Related Stories
