The funeral director whispered that my father’s attorney had arrived and needed Delphine in the private office immediately after the service. She spent the remaining forty minutes staring straight ahead. My brother noticed too. When the last guest had left, we were asked to join them. On the desk sat a sealed envelope bearing Dad’s handwriting and a copy of an estate plan dated eleven months earlier.
Delphine had apparently expected to inherit the house, Dad’s investments, and whatever remained from the lake-house sale. Instead, Dad had placed most of those assets into a trust benefiting my brother and me. The childhood home was ours jointly. Delphine received a generous fixed inheritance and the right to remain in a separate condominium Dad had purchased for her, but she had no claim to the family property or control over the trust.
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