I was appointed executor of the financial side of the Tingle Family Trust. That means Joan had a trust made and decided I should be the one to look after the money after her death. I have not been comfortable with this job because I am not at home in the world of high finance. Not that we have high finances. But for me a couple of hundred bucks has always been a really lot of money.
I wasn’t used to dealing with sums in the low hundreds of thousands which was what was left after the Delridge property was sold. We had never expected to inherit a penny for Joan and WB so this was strictly speaking manna from heaven.
Even though it was manna, it has weighed on me because first I had to invest it, with in put from the brothers, in CDs; and then for about four months now I have been dealing with the lawyers, signing papers, sending information, and in general wondering how the hell long was this going to take.
Last week, it started really getting to me. I hadn’t heard from the lawyer for about a month, except for a billing, of course, and I wanted to know what was up, had I missed something, what was going to happen next. So I left messages, four or five of them over the last couple of weeks, asking what the hell was going on, and I got no reply.
Yesterday, I faxed a letter to the lawyer with my questions and emailed her too with the letter in an attachment, and as of noon today, still no reply. I was fit to be tied and about to blow my stack. But Carol, god bless her, called during the lunch break and actually got the lawyer. She remembered that sometimes when the secretary goes to lunch the boss has to person the phone.
After about a thirty second conversation (would it have killed her to call me earlier) I got the go ahead to distribute a portion of the manna to the beneficiaries named in the trust. I was really grateful for this because Dan at the moment could use the money since some bills resulting from his stroke have come due and they are also trying to repair their bathrooms.
So I feel as if a weight has been somewhat lifted, though I will fret until the checks are in the hands of the brothers because to get there they have to go through the US mail, through the lawyer’s office, and back to the US mail and to the correct addresses.
I mean anything could still happen.
