A Clash of Wills

A Clash of Wills

Julie Grant and her husband Kevin followed the mourners from the cemetery after the interment of her late father Roy Bishop.

Blessed with three girls and a boy, Roy and Juliette Bishop had grown their family and business until after twenty years of forgiving his philandering, Juliette had left for the quiet life. Juliette at seventy had pre-deceased Roy by five years, so Julie, Susan, Belinda and Trevor, were now technically orphans.

Wending their way through silent cemetery sentinels, Julie was startled when two young girls coming from behind ran ahead, taunts and jeers echoing in the reverent air. Memories unbidden swamped her mind; four children lined up in a staggered starting position; "Go!" Julie, the oldest, further to run, Sue only 18 months younger, with a good start, Belinda, heavier, not keen to run, but plodding on gamely, and little Trevor, running towards his doting daddy and laughing. Julie and Sue thrashing out the victory, but Julie set up to fail, time and again.

Car doors closed discretely on the bereaved. Julie was dreading the wake at Sue's house, a modern marvel, set among rural pastures.

Sue Lowe at 54,was a successful personal trainer and gym owner, a walking, talking advertisement for her industry; expensively coloured and styled blond bob, slim in a black sheath, her 10 cm Jimmy Choo's, only slightly inappropriate, welcomed all at the door.

"Mr. Park," Sue purred. "Go right in, help yourself to some refreshments." The solicitor,
stooped with age, his eyes yet twinkling with life, shuffled obediently in the direction of food and beverage.

Following Mr. Park, Julie and Kevin Grant were greeted by Sue with less warmth, and more sneer. The childhood competitions didn't end with running races. Their father expected them to compete against each other and anyone else; swimming, horse riding, school work, fashion sense, the list of competitions once even included boys. Sue it appeared had won life's competition.

"Julie," coolly, "Kevin," with warmth, she offered her cheek.

Following Mr. Park's shuffle, they hunted down a mini quiche and a beverage and found adjoining seats near the window overlooking the rose garden. What is it about family gatherings that make the heart miss a beat, the memories flash, Julie thought, her mind drifting to the past. "If you don't," he'd say time after time, "you're out of the will!"

Belinda Bishop, her brother Trevor Bishop and his wife Mona took seats opposite Julie and Kevin, Trevor dropping cake crumbs on the cream carpet, Mona frowning her disapproval.
Belinda's eyes looked sad, red and tired.

"How go the dogs Belinda?" Kevin queried. She never had less than three current champions in her stable. Belinda's eyes lit up.

"Sir Prancealott took out best in show last week; there wasn't another Doberman to touch him, and Lady McBreath whelped 12 gor-jus little black and tan beauties. How's retirement? Julie keeping you in the comfort you've come to expect?" Belinda asked. Julie worked at the local supermarket.

"Well, I miss those old CPA meetings, but Julie's bringing home the bacon," Kevin joked.

"Trevor, is that a new company van I saw? Commercial cleaning is certainly not feeling the economic pinch," Kevin teased.

Trevor smiled, and Mona replied, "I'm running the show now so that Trev can concentrate on his investments. I upgraded some of the older fleet vehicles, got a good deal too. I can give you his name if you're thinking of upgrading that rust-bucket you putt around in.

"It's a classic, thank you," Kevin responded with mock offense.

One by one, they dispersed to catch up with the various guests.

Eventually, starting with a trickle, the guests began leaving. Soon afterwards, the family followed Sue and Mr. Park into the lounge room, and arranged themselves on the luxurious cream leather suite around a stunning coffee table set below a massive crystal chandelier. Belinda was the only one with red eyes and a tissue clenched in her fist.

"This is my last will and testament. I, Roy Daniel Bishop, being of sound mind...."Mr. Park's dry tone droned. He gave a dry cough, and reached for the glass of water he always requested when attending a will reading.

He continued, "Susan Lowe is to be my executor," Sue smirked unsubtly, Belinda's eyebrows barely moved, Trevor and Mona gave no reaction. There would be no surprises here. The contents of the will were an open secret and it was common knowledge that Julie was 'out of the will' and had been for the better part of a decade or more. Not six months ago, she had been requested to sign a document accepting $10,000 as her full share of any inheritance.

"To my daughters Sue Lowe, Belinda Bishop and son Trevor Bishop, I leave equally the bulk of my estate, including shares, bonds and investment properties outlined in subsequent pages, valued at $6 million, but not including the following bequests; to my daughter Sue Lowe, I leave the holiday home, the Ranger 4x4 and various antiques already in her possession; to Belinda Bishop I leave the dinner service, the caravan and the Mazda BT50 for towing same and various antiques already in her possession; to my son Trevor Bishop, I leave the boat and the 4x4 Ram for towing same and various antiques already in his possession. The residue of my estate is to be divided between the three beneficiaries above named as they see fit signed, Roy Bishop." Mr. Park glanced quickly at Julie and away again, he had never been at ease with his client's wishes regarding his Will.

"And that concludes the reading," he gathered his papers together, nearly spilling the glass of water.

"Yes, well, thank you Mr. Park," Sue stood, held out her hand and barely grasping the wrinkled digits, squeezed them.

"Silly bugger," said Belinda, "but not surprising really."

"No, all pretty straight forward," echoed Trevor. Mona's thoughts had already travelled to her favorite jewelry store.

"Has anyone, anything they want to say?" Julie asked.

The silence was palpable.

"Oh, Julie, what's to be said? I told you not to waste your time coming - there was nothing for you, you're out of the will," Sue dusted her hands together.

"Belinda? Trevor?" Julie looked at her siblings, waiting for them to speak up. To declare the promise made some months before, that they would share their inheritance with their dis-inherited sister, if she would sign the $10,000 offer made by their father.

"Well, actually, I have something to say," Belinda stood.

Sue's pretty face sneered, her plump lips compressed to a line.

"I would like to share my inheritance with Julie. I'm giving her $500,000, no strings attached."

"Pffft," Sue scoffed.

Belinda continued, "If we all give Julie $500,000 that would make an equal division between us all." Belinda sat down, leaned back in her plush seat, folded her arms and glanced at Trevor who barely squirmed in his seat.

"Aww, Belinda, that's lovely." Julie rose and gave her a hug. Trevor cleared his throat.

"Mona and I have been talking with Sue, and I'll give Julie $100,000. Um, ok?" Mona obviously not
a willing party, glared at her husband, but remained silent.

"Thank you Trevor, that's really nice of you." Julie touched Trevor's shoulder with affection. She turned and pulled out a sealed envelope from her bag and passed it to Mr. Park.

"Mr. Park, I've been instructed to give this to you.

"Oh, here we go! Going to contest the will? It's too late; you signed your rights away months ago. You haven't a leg to stand on you know," Sue howled.

Mr. Park broke the seal, opened the envelope and perused the document, coughed gently again, resumed his seat. He looked up, all seriousness.

"Ah, no Mrs. Lowe, this is from your mother,' he said. "Well, Mrs. Juliette Bishop has written this to be read at her ex-husbands will reading. How extraordinary." He looked at the family gathered around.

"Well, read on," blustered Sue.

"My dear children, Julie, Susan, Belinda and Trevor, you have now heard your father's wishes for the dispersal of his assets, and I have no doubt he was as obnoxious in death as he was in life. Knowing this, I prepared a little surprise of my own. Some weeks before my death, I won the lottery jackpot of $8 million. I had been ill with this dreadful cancer for some years, and I knew my time was short so I claimed the prize quietly. As you know, Roy employed the best legal minds for our divorce settlement, and I was left with very little. However, with only weeks left to live, I saw no good in taking the money for myself. So with the best of intentions for all my children, I sought legal advice and was put in touch with a new solicitor to establish a trust, which was invested until Roy's death, when she would contact my eldest surviving child, to deliver these papers to the will reading. I leave this with you with all my love, signed, Juliette Bishop.

Mr. Park turned through the pages, "Appendix A values the portfolio at $10 million." A collective of oohs and ahhs and astonished eyebrows filled the room.

Mr. Park looked at Julie, raised his eye-brows; Julie was as surprised as everyone else. He returned to reading the letter.

"Um ...this sum to be divided equally between the surviving children with the proviso in Appendix C, titled, Generosity Percentage Calculator."

"What does that mean?" Sue snapped. A feeling of dread had drained her face of all colour. Mona glanced uneasily at Trevor, his lips clamped shut.

"May I see Appendix C, please," Kevin asked as he reached into Julie's bag and pulled out an iPad.

"Well, Mrs. Lowe, it seems your mother knew your father's intentions, and she seems to have found a way to even things up. It would appear, that a percentage of your mother's winnings would go to those who had divided their inheritance with any disinherited sibling, in this case, Ms. Julie; so someone who shared their inheritance with Ms. Julie, would be a proportional inheritor of the lottery winnings," Mr. Park explained patiently.

Sue looked apoplectic; an unbecoming redness suffused her face.

Kevin showed his iPad screen to Mr. Park. Mr. Park checked the figures and the formulas used to divide the lottery winnings.

"Kevin has worked out the proportional distribution of your mother's trust, in accordance with the instructions in her will. Now, Sue gets $2 million dollars from her father's estate, and because she shared nothing with Julie, she is not entitled to receive any percentage of her mother's trust."

"Oh shit!" Sue interjected.

"Belinda, gets $2 million from her father's estate, and has given Julie $500,000, is therefore entitled to receive a further $4,466,667 from her mother's trust, totaling $5,666,667. Trevor gets $2 million from his father's estate and has given $100,000 to Julie, so he is entitled to receive a further $833,333 from his mother's trust, totaling $2,733,333. The remainder of the trust is $5 million, and that with the $600,000 generously given from Ms. Belinda and Mr. Trevor goes to Julie." Mr. Park took a deep gulp of water.

"Look, that can't possibly be legal, there has to be something we can do about it," Sue bellowed.

"Well, no, Mrs. Lowe, it's quite clear, that division of your mother's trust has a lot more to do with your own generosity of spirit. Your choice to keep the total inheritance from your father means that the lottery winnings all go proportionally to the other beneficiaries. Now you're welcome to get your own legal advice," Mr. Park explained, "however, this document was prepared by one of the sharpest legal minds in the country, which I know to my detriment, because it was my ex-wife."

Julie collected the legal papers and returned them to the envelope, winked at Belinda, and taking Kevin's hand, walked out the door in her Target shoes. Trevor's voice could be heard yelling in the background, "You stupid women! If you hadn't been so tight-fisted I've had $4 million!"