The estate attorney asked me whether my husband knew exactly what my father had left me. I told him he knew there was an inheritance, but he had never seen the will or any account statements. The attorney asked whether my husband had already made plans based on the money, and I told him about the car, the condo, and the promises he’d made to his family. He went quiet and asked me to bring every document I had from the estate. Then he asked whether my husband had quit his job voluntarily or had simply stopped showing up. I realized I didn’t actually know.
At the meeting, the attorney explained that my husband had apparently told several people the inheritance was already his to use. But my father’s will left everything to me alone, and the estate hadn’t even cleared probate. Worse, my husband had submitted a resignation letter to his employer saying he was leaving because he had “substantial family assets becoming available.” The attorney asked me if I’d ever authorized him to represent my financial situation that way. I said no. Then he showed me a copy of the letter, and I recognized my husband’s signature—but not the wording.
My husband admitted he’d written it because he thought the inheritance would arrive within weeks. He said he wanted to make sure his mother and sister were taken care of before we “started spending it.” I told him there was nothing to spend yet, and there certainly wasn’t anything he had the right to promise away. His family stopped talking about condos and car payments after the attorney sent them a formal notice explaining that the estate belonged to me and remained under probate. My husband eventually found another job, but I never again let him handle a financial document without me reading it first. Five days after my father’s funeral, my husband had already quit his job and spent an inheritance that legally wasn’t even available yet.
