Chapter 8 - THE ACCOUNTING
The court appointed an independent forensic fiduciary accountant.
Her name was Susan Keller.
She did not care who cried.
I liked her immediately.
She reconstructed three years of trust activity.
Initial funding:
$800,000.
Legitimate house-related expenses:
$183,400.
Reasonable trustee compensation allowed after adjustment:
$31,000.
Improper or unsupported transfers:
Approximately $474,000.
Remaining recoverable trust assets:
Approximately $94,000 plus claims.
There were also investment losses because money had been removed from assets that later appreciated.
The final surcharge calculation required more analysis.
Susan did not call every unsupported payment theft.
Some might be recharacterized.
Some could be reimbursed.
Some involved legitimate work billed excessively.
The court would decide.
Rachel’s company had little capacity to repay hundreds of thousands.
Carter Hospitality was deeply leveraged.
Linda had personal assets.
A condo.
Brokerage accounts.
Jewelry.
Retirement investments.
No immediate confiscation occurred.
Instead, settlement negotiations began because litigation risk was rising.
Linda resisted one thing more than money.
Removal as trustee.
She called the trust “Walter’s last responsibility to me.”
Patricia answered:
“Trusteeship is not an inheritance of authority.”
That sentence stayed with me.
Eventually the court removed Linda based on documented breaches and conflicts of interest.
A professional trustee replaced her.
Linda appealed initially.
Then withdrew.
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The first legal conflict was resolved.
She no longer controlled money attached to my house.
