I called my oldest brother again and asked him one question: “Who told you I didn’t want to be involved?” He didn’t answer at first. Then he said Dad had told them before he died that I wanted nothing to do with the farm. I reminded him that Dad had called me two weeks before he died and asked me to come home for Easter. My brother said that conversation never happened. I knew he was lying because I still had the voicemail saved. Then I asked why my signature was on the distribution receipt. He said the lawyer had handled everything and that I should talk to him.
I went back to the courthouse and asked for every document filed after Dad’s death. There was a handwritten note from the attorney saying all three heirs had agreed to the distribution. Attached to it was a copy of my driver’s license — except the license number was wrong. Someone had copied an old document of mine and altered the signature. I asked the clerk whether the judge had actually reviewed the receipts. She said yes. Then she pointed to the date of the hearing. It was the same day I was in another state attending my husband’s funeral. I had the airline receipt, the funeral program, everything.
The next morning I called the lawyer and told him I knew the estate had been distributed without me. He became very careful with his words. Then he said something that made my stomach drop: “Your brothers were acting under the authority your father gave them.” I asked what authority. He said there was a separate document in the file that hadn’t been part of the original probate packet. I demanded a copy. When it arrived, I recognized the signature immediately. It was Dad’s — but the document was dated six months after the stroke that had left him unable to sign his own name. And the person Dad supposedly appointed to handle the estate wasn’t either of my brothers. It was the same lawyer who had just spent two years telling me the probate case was “moving normally.”
