Dear Judy,
Couldn’t help noticing what you wrote as advice to the rich widow who wrote in yesterday complaining about her obnoxious stepchildren who wanted their father’s estate to go to them.
I have sort of the same issue, but not entirely. My late wife left most of her estate to me. She had a lot of antiques (I’m antique-phobic, personally) and her grown daughter, now 31, keeps phoning and emailing and saying things like, “That rollout desk that belonged to Mom: she always said I’d be the one to inherit it!” Or, “That inlaid table from Florence: Mom always said it was mine when she died.”
Well that’s not the way the Will reads. Although I don’t much like the stuff, I would like to sell it, and use the money to invest. On the other hand, these calls and emails are making me feel guilty — sometimes.
What do you think?
Cal
Dear Cal,
I think you should do exactly as you wish. Your wife could have left the furniture to her daughter, but for some reason she didn’t.
I think that says it all.
Thank you for writing
Judy
