There is nothing like the death of a moneyed member of the family to show persons as they really are, virtuous or conniving, generous or grasping. Many a family has been torn apart by a botched-up will. Each case is a drama in human relationships — and the lawyer, as counselor, draftsman, or advocate, is an important figure in the dramatis personae. This is one reason the estates practitioner enjoys his work, and why we enjoy ours.
Jesse Dukeminier and Stanley M. Johanson, introduction to 1972 edition of Family Wealth Transactions: Wills, Trusts, Future Interests, and Estate Planning
“There is nothing like the death of a moneyed member of the family to show persons as they really are, virtuous or conniving, generous or grasping…”
What a wonderful premise for a story! Am filing away in my Story Ideas folder…
Wouldn’t that be a great opening line?!
I just saw an Antiques Roadshow episode with a lady related to Frances Hodgson Burnett. Burnett left almost all the lolly to her orphaned nephew, but it was grabbed by an adult uncle instead. The nephew eventually bought Burnett’ s place settings at an estate sale in the uncle’s family….
I have to say that I wanted to know more.
You think wealth transitioning was interesting in 1972, just wait until the Baby Boomers start dying in numbers.
Probate is like a novel, but as performance art.
The dullest novel I ever read was far more interesting and eventful than the probate I’m going through now. Which mostly consists of long, long delays waiting for the other executor (in Mexico) to sign the damned papers and return them.