The Old Trailer
Adam stared at the old and disheveled trailer in front of him. He couldn’t believe that he had inherited this piece of junk from his father, Jack, who had kept it a secret from him for many years. What was going on?
The Old Trailer
A Look Inside
He gingerly stepped into the old vehicle and immediately smelled a strong scent of must and dust. He looked through all of the debris and clutter and he came upon something that seemed out of place. He had no idea just how much he would find hidden in this old trailer and what it would reveal about his father.
A Look Inside
The Letter
One day, Adam received a letter that informed him of his inheritance. He was taken aback, since he had not thought about his father in years, ever since he had disappeared when Adam was a young boy. How come he all of a sudden inherited something from him? It seemed as though his mother had declared his father to be deceased in the hopes of receiving some compensation. After all, he had been missing for 15 years. However, in the end it was Adam who received the trailer, old and beat up and left abandoned in a forest.
The Letter
Out Of Nowhere
Adam wasn’t sure how to feel, but he was surprised his father left him anything at all. He barely remembered his father and he definitely didn’t remember this trailer. When his mother found out about it, she was just as surprised. Adam decided that he had to check it out immediately to try to better understand the situation. It was a three hour drive away, which was even more curious. Who was his father and what had he been hiding?
Out Of Nowhere
Finding It In The Forest
He arrived at the given coordinates that led him to a forest, with the closest town being about an hour away. The trailer was located far into the forest, making it seem like its owner didn’t want to be found. Suddenly, Adam noticed something. At first he couldn’t tell what it was, as it blended into the forest, but as he got closer, he saw that it was indeed the trailer.
Finding It In The Forest
It Was In Tatters
He stood there, taking it all in: the peeling paint, the dust-coated windows, the layers of filth accumulated over years. The back of the trailer looked like it had collapsed and the door was hanging off of the hinges. It had clearly been there untouched for a long time. Adam wondered what on earth his father had been doing with this thing. He looked all around the trailer before taking a deep breath and stepping inside.
It Was In Tatters
Searching For Answers
As he pushed aside the creaking door, Adam immediately took in the rank smell of an abandoned place. Every surface was coated in dust and cobwebs. He began to sift through all of the junk, removing it from inside of the trailer. He didn’t know what exactly he was searching for, but he hoped that it would answer at least some of his questions and know what the connection his father had to this place.
Searching For Answers
Sifting Through Everything
Adam began sifting through everything and sorting items into different piles. He made sure to use protective gloves as he placed wood in one pile, metal into another, furniture in a third, and other random objects into a fourth separate pile. It was clear that everything was in such terrible condition, including the trailer itself, that it couldn’t be salvaged. At this point, he only continued so he could understand the mystery of his father better.
Sifting Through Everything
The Key
Time dragged on, and just as the sun began to set, Adam made a discovery. He found a small, rusty key lying under a pile of trash on the ground. It didn’t seem like anything inside of the trailer was locked, and this filled his mind with even more questions. What could this key open? Was there something valuable hidden somewhere? Adam was originally looking for photos or notebooks, but that old rumor he always heard about his father leaving with a huge sum of money crept up in the back of his mind.
The Key
Finding Something
Looking around the trailer once again, Adam looked for any sign of anything that could be connected to the key. He examined the walls, the ceiling, and the floors, and just as he was thinking of giving up, he found a loose floorboard in the back of the trailer. Ready with the key, he opened up the floorboard and found a notebook tucked into the hidden compartment there. He started to look through the pages and was stunned to discover that it was his father’s journal.
Finding Something
Flipping Through It
He examined the notebook and saw that it was made out of good quality leather. This was no cheap notebook, but it looked like it had been used often. Why had his father hidden this notebook away here? He flipped through the entries, trying to find out as much as possible, and as he reached the final entries, he was stunned. These were addressed directly to him, as if his father had known that this exact moment would happen one day. The last sentences caused him to freeze on the spot.
Flipping Through It
What He Wrote
Adam read: “My son, if you read this, I’m gone. It wasn’t at my own will, but I had no other choice. Follow the following coordinates, and you will find what belongs to you and you only.” He was completely taken aback. What was going on? The strangest part he noticed was that his father’s handwriting seemed different on this final page than in the rest of the journal, and looked as though it was written hastily and in a rush. The last word looked like it was almost unfinished, almost stopped in the middle of being written.
What He Wrote
The Coordinates
Adam’s head was spinning with the new questions, but he wasted no time. He quickly entered in the coordinates into the map in his phone and saw that they led him to a storage unit that was located close to where he lived. He quickly locked up the trailer and started driving. Once he arrived, he realized that he had driven by this place countless times without glancing at it. He hoped that he would have some answers soon.
The Coordinates
Which One?
Adam quickly parked the car and started walking towards the storage units. He soon realized he was missing one crucial piece of information: which storage unit was he looking for? His father didn’t specify which one it was, so he looked for a manager. When he found one, he asked which unit belonged to his father. The manager let him know that there wasn’t one listed under his father’s name. Adam was stunned. They tried different spellings, but still nothing was found.
Which One?
Losing Hope
Adam started to grow frustrated with the situation. It seemed like the more he looked for answers, he found more questions. He was beginning to feel hopeless, but something he remembered kept him for giving up. He thought about how his father had written: “You will find what belongs to you and you only.” He was determined to find out what exactly that meant.
Losing Hope
Figuring It Out
He decided to ask the manager to look for a unit that was under his name. It worked! Unit number 33 was listed under Adam’s full name, and he quickly went over to the unit. The padlock was covered in dust, and it was clear that nobody had been there in years. Adam took out the key, but the padlock was challenging to open since both the key and the padlock itself were so rusty. The key didn’t seem to move at all. The manager applied some rust-removal spray to the padlock and key, and they waited for a few minutes.
Figuring It Out
It Opened
The manager was familiar with rusted keys and padlocks, as this kind of thing happened often at the storage unit facility. After they waited, Adam tried again, and finally it worked! Adam was anxiously waiting to see what was inside the unit. He felt excitement coursing through him, but he wasn’t sure why he was so nervous. He asked the manager to stay with him, since for some reason, he felt like he did not want to be alone.
It Opened
So Much Dust
As Adam opened up the garage door of the unit, the space revealed itself to be small and poorly lit. He could see piles of boxes covered in dust that looked like they were stashed away in a hurry. There was dust everywhere, including the floor. The boxes were unmarked and were taped shut, so Adam realized that he had to open them up to reveal their contents.
So Much Dust
Opening The Boxes
Suddenly, he wasn’t sure what to do. What if these boxes left him feeling disappointed? He was worried he would find something that would alter his life in a way that he didn’t want. Ultimately, he felt like it was too late to stop now. He started opening up the boxes, and he started to find his old toys from his childhood as well as photo albums filled with pictures of him with his father. He couldn’t believe his father held on to these things for all this time.
Opening The Boxes
That Wasn’t All
His worries began to subside, and he continued opening the boxes, which were all filled with his childhood memories. Adam felt very emotional, happiness tinged with sadness, nostalgia, and missing his father. However, he felt like this couldn’t be it. He suddenly noticed a door in the back of the unit. The manager was taken aback, since the other units didn’t have doors inside them. Perhaps Adam’s father had carved it out himself?
That Wasn’t All
Another Door
Adam and the manager walked over and took a closer look at the wall. It looked like it was made of carton as opposed to cement. What was this makeshift room for? He tried to open the door, but it was locked. What was going on, and why had his father made it so difficult? He decided to kick down the door.
Another Door
What Was Inside
After he kicked it down, the flew came completely off the hinges and loudly landed on the floor, kicking up dust all around. They coughed and waved the dust away from them as they stepped forward into the small room. There, they found the room was full of books, documents, and maps, as well as a desk, lamp, and cork board with notes and photos pinned onto it. What was this strange makeshift office?
What Was Inside
Looking Through It All
Adam didn’t really understand what was going on, and the manager was stunned that this was inside one of his units this whole time without his knowledge. Adam began to look through the documents, newspaper clippings, and photos to try to understand what was going on here. What had his father been up to?
Looking Through It All
Inside The Chest
As he looked around, Adam moved his feet and felt something on the ground. He looked at what he stumbled into and he found an old chest. He prayed that it wouldn’t be locked, and he finally found something his father left behind that was still open. Inside the unlocked chest he found old documents and a faded photo. He started reading through them and discovered that they listed evidence of embezzlement and corruption by powerful people in their town, including some that had been involved with his father’s disappearance.
Inside The Chest
Answers and More Questions
Adam was furious when he realized just how corrupt the whole town was. He looked at the photo, which showed his father along with several others standing with a banner that said “Justice For Fall.” His father had been fighting this corruption before being driven away. What did this mean? Where did he go, and could he still be alive? He decided to look for the one person who he knew would have the answers.
Answers And More Questions
What Did She Know?
Adam thanked the manager and started driving to his mother’s house, armed with the boxes of evidence his father had left behind. He knew she would have some answers for him. When he arrived, his mother Jessica was taken aback, and when he confronted her, she was a bit hesitant about giving him answers. He knew that she knew more than she was letting on, and he noticed she was avoiding eye contact.
What Did She Know?
He Lied
When he arrived, his mother took one look at the box he was holding and it changed the expression on her face. He couldn’t tell what she was thinking, but he knew that she had answers for him, and he demanded she tell him. He realized that his father had lied to him every time he told him he was going on a trip and that he had to work late and miss dinner. His mother knew and kept the truth for him. He told her that the least she could do was tell him the truth now.
He Lied
Feeling Betrayed
She told him to sit down and wait as she went upstairs to get something. Adam felt betrayed and wished he had known what was going on. He spent years wondering where his father was, feeling abandoned. Now he realized that the truth had been kept from him all of this time.
Feeling Betrayed
The Shoe Box
She came back holding a shoebox. She said: “In here is everything I have left of your father. He didn’t just lie to you, Adam. He lied to me too.He left us both. I had always hoped he would suddenly reappear and everything would go back to normal, but it won’t. Your father was a complicated man.” She explained that he was never honest with her either and that he drifted from job to job, without telling her anything about them. She decided to confront him about it one day.
The Shoe Box
Keeping Them Safe
Although he resisted at first, after they had a huge fight, he finally told her the truth. He said that he was dealing with dangerous people and that he was just trying to keep her and Adam safe from them. Jessica demanded to know exactly what he was up to, but he refused.
Keeping Them Safe
When He Left
He tried to get her to move on without asking more, but she said that if he was involved with something dangerous, as his wife she had the right to know what was going on. She was filled with worry. A few days after this argument, Jack disappeared without every coming back. He wrote Jessica a letter that explained that for her safety, it was best not to keep in contact. She cried as she handed Adam the letter, saying that she’s worried ever since that the dangerous people had found him.
When He Left
The Other Letter
Adam felt completely heartbroken and he began crying along with his mother. They read the letter together. She then told him about the second letter. She explained that she had received it just a week before and said it was addressed to her. It came from his father. She didn’t want to tell him about it, but given the circumstances, she felt it was the right thing to do now.
The Other Letter
Everything Was Different
Adam was completely shocked. Everything in his world had been turned completely upside down. Nothing that he knew about his father was true, and his mother had kept so much from him for so much time.
Everything Was Different
The Guilt
Adam’s mother felt a sense of guilt for keeping all of this from her son for so long. However, she thought that she was doing what was best for him in order to protect him from danger and too much heartbreak. However, it was finally time to tell him the truth and give him the most recent letter.
The Guilt
Her Reassuring Smile
His mother gave him the letter and gave him a small, reassuring smile. This was her way of letting him know that everything will be okay. His hands shook as he took the letter from her and removed it from the envelope. He slowly unfolded it, feeling nervous about what he was about to read.
Her Reassuring Smile
The Explanation
In the letter, Adam’s father Jack explained to his wife that she should stop looking for him and register him as deceased. He asked her to tell Adam that he loved him and didn’t want to leave him but that he was left with no other choice. He assured her that if had not left, he would have already been dead.
The Explanation
The Truth
He couldn’t believe that after all of these years, his father was alive. His mother gently placed her hand on his shoulder and told him that she was sorry. He looked up and smiled through his tears. He finally had an answer about why his father had left. Though he realized he might never see him again, he felt better knowing that his father was still alive.
The Truth
The Last Thing
Adam hugged his mother and they held on to one another for a long while. They shared happy memories and laughed together. When he finally left her house later in the day, he felt a sense of calm, but he still had one more thing he needed to do before moving on.
The Last Thing
Fighting For Justice
He felt proud of his father for being so brave despite how much unfair injustices he faced, and he was inspired by him. He decided to work with law enforcement, prosecutors, and the media in order to expose the corrupt officials who drove his father away in order to make sure they paid for their actions.
Fighting For Justice
Getting What They Deserve
After fighting long and hard, finally the corrupt officials were found guilty and sentenced to the appropriate jail time they deserved. Adam felt a small sense of vindication and the town celebrated his victory. He hoped that maybe now his father would come back, but he was happy that he helped make the community a better place.
Getting What They Deserve
Inheritance Troubles
When it comes to parents passing, there are a lot of emotions that tend to be involved. Adult children are suddenly faced with the fact that they are now the adults in charge, with nobody around anymore to make them harken back to feeling like a child. Still, things become even more complicated when it comes to dealing with inheritances.
Inheritance Troubles
The Difficult News
One woman found out some perplexing news when he father passed away. While she was completely devastated to hear about her father’s passing, things took a turn for the worse when she was informed about what he had decided to do with all of his belongings.
The Difficult News
She Was Taken Aback
The woman, we’ll refer to her as Emily as she chose to remain anonymous to protect her family, shared that she always believed that she and her children would be the sole inheritors of whatever he had left to give at the time of his passing. However, when the news came, so did the information regarding the inheritance.
She Was Taken Aback
Change Of Inheritance
When she did get the call about her father’s passing, she was also informed that a woman she had never met had become the sole heir and inheritor of everything he had left. Emily was utterly shocked to learn this information.
Change Of Inheritance
A Random Stranger
She admitted that in the last few years of her father’s life, he had grown distant from his family and friends and that suddenly out of the blue, this random woman showed up in his life. Emily also shared that nobody in her father’s family had ever met this woman until her father passed away.
A Random Stranger
When The Changes Happened
Emily also found out that her father’s new will was written less than a year before he passed away. It was also discovered the the change was made while he was sick and staying at the hospital.
When The Changes Happened
Bank Account Change
Emily then said that the woman had become the administrator of Emily’s father’s bank account around the same time that the new will was written. Before then, Emily was the administrator on the account. Emily says she has proof that she had never tried to take funds from the account, while the random woman has been doing that.
Bank Account Change
Adding Insult To Injury
Emily then said that while all those changes took effect, what was worse was that an attachment was made in order to give another separate random “daughter” access, although she wasn’t even the random’s woman’s daughter at all!
Adding Insult To Injury
The Other Women
Emily’s aunts, her father’s sisters, were all completely taken aback by all the changes he decided to make, seemingly at the last minute. They were later stunned to discover that the women were all actually the daughters of their father’s ex-girlfriends.
The Other Women
What They Wanted
After discovering all of this, all Emily and her family wanted was the right what they felt was wrong and to restore her children’s inheritance, as they felt that they are the rightful heirs, seeing as they are the only biological grandchildren of Emily’s late father.
What They Wanted
Getting Help
Emily decided to consult with a lawyer, and she wrote to one asking for advice. The lawyer in question, Gary Rycroft, heard her out and posted his reply to Emily’s issue on thisismoney.co.uk, explaining what happens next.
Getting Help
Using A Caveat
Rycroft explained that just as Emily had already done, the first thing to do is to lodge a caveat, which is a legal procedure that allows for blocking the administration of a deceased person’s estate since there is a possible dispute over it. A caveat will last for 6 months and then needs to be renewed.
Using A Caveat
A Response
The person who receives the caveat, like the woman trying to benefit from Emily’s father’s will, can counter with asking that the person serving the caveat prove that there is enough evidence against them.
A Response
Need Evidence
Rycroft then explained that although it is very understandable that Emily is upset by the changes made to the will, she will need to produce enough evidence and legal reasons why the will has to be challenged.
Need Evidence
Testamentary Freedom
Since this case is taking place in England, Rycroft also pointed out that there is a general principle of law of testamentary freedom that allows people are allowed to leave their estates to whoever they want to.
Testamentary Freedom
Some Options Left
Despite this, Rycroft said that in this particular case, there were some options due to what Emily shared. Since the changes were made while her father was sick and in the hospital, her father’s mental capacity at the time of the new will should be investigated. This is to ensure that he was actually able to know and understand that these changes were taking place.
Some Options Left
Any Promises He Made
Since Emily said that he promised his inheritance to her, she should bring up any drastic measures she took in her life following this promise. That could include giving up her job to take care of him, moving in with him, or renting a property because she believed she would inherit his home.
Any Promises He Made
Woman’s Relationship To Him
Another thing worth considering is how exactly Emily’s father came to believe that the random woman was his daughter, enough to name her as such in the new will. If Emily could prove that her father was mislead about his relationship to her, then she could challenge the new will.
Woman’s Relationship To Him
Interesting Approach
Rycroft also mentions that another possible approach is to remove the caveat and allow the will to go through as is, then put in a request for “reasonable financial provision in [her] capacity as a child of the deceased.” Of course, he points out that this is no guarantee for success and sufficient evidence is necessary.
Interesting Approach
Next Steps
Ultimately, the best course of action for Emily would be to consult with and eventually hire a legal expert to help her navigate this tricky situation. Hopefully, she will be able to resolve the situation.
Next Steps
