A settlement agreement was drafted by Mary-the-lawyer. We were told “hurry, you must sign it and have it notarized by tomorrow before the court date”. So we did. I have come to realize the “hurry” was that they did not want us to read it carefully. There is a portion which basically says that we can’t sue her for anything ever, and that all we will get is the Winnebago and the Ford Escape, along with the things we rescued from the attic and the guns.
The good news is that she signed it too (or rather her lawyers did) and she can’t sue us for anything ever either. I can’t wait to turn this whole story into a screenplay for a TV show.
We received the Winnebago (worth about 20k) and the Ford Escape (worth about 10k) but both were a complete mess and had to have extensive cleaning and servicing to be able to be used. Oh, we also got a DR Mower which we specifically asked for, because DR Mowers ROCK! Nothing gets in the way of that thing.
After our legal fees, we will get only a few thousand (3k) dollars each. Frank had made Eva a beneficiary on his account so she directly inherited at least 100k plus whatever else comes from the sale of the house and other accounts which may have had money in them. It looks like Marion is also keeping our grandmothers ring.
We learned some very important lessons from this ordeal. My feeling is that we were fine before he died, and are fine now. We just had to experience a few months of seeing how awful some people can be. I have two awesome (real) sisters and a wonderful mother, fantastic nieces and nephews and no one else can have that. My family is priceless and Eva might get some money, but she will never get the joy that being part of my family brings.
And Frank? He was a messed up man. He had a hole in his soul that no amount of alcohol, drugs, money or manipulation could fill. He treated us badly our entire lives, and then blamed everyone but himself for his loneliness. We tried to be “good daughters” but in his eyes, that was impossible. One of the things he said was that his life’s biggest regret is that he was stuck with just having three daughters (no sons).
Amazingly, we all turned out great after being raised in such a hostile environment. I’m a retired satellite engineer, Mindy is a math teacher and Nancy owns her own business with her husband. None of us are addicts or drunks, and we all have good husbands and wonderful children.
Daughters: 3 Dad: 0