Colon Cancer Diary     |   home

About Us
More about us at www.kathybrooks.com

The Brooks Family was always a very close knit group, happy to be around, very helpful to others.  Charlie did tons of
favors for our friends, sometimes these various contractors would swap out work on each other's homes as
needed.  Just a nice circle of friends.

Everyone stayed in touch thru the beginning stages of his cancer, but as things worsened and his
own mood changed, we seemed to see or hear much less from friends and family.

He went to his office as much as possible, communicating with the crew and his customers.  He had a sofa
there if he tired and needed rest.

One day he came home to say that he had seen their attorney and wrote up his will.  Not sure why
we really needed one since we sure didn't own much, I tossed it aside until months later. He did say
that he was leaving his share of the business to his brother, but I never really was involved
with it anyway and sure did not want to discuss dying or anything like it that day.

So after we lost him, I figured the best thing to do was probate the will, so that no one
complained about my doing the right thing.  My biggest mistake was taking it to "their"
attorney - well he was also a friend of the family and I didn't know anyone else.

Both my parents were gone by this time and I really had no one to consult.  So the attorney
told me how much he loved the family, with tears in his eyes, would not charge me for
his services, then I was out the door.  It was brief and I was so nervous and he was kind.

Nearly a year later I got a call from another attorney in our county who had been appointed
by the Judge who saw the will.  He said that the children needed proper representation for
"their share" of the business.  I met with him, paid him, and learned that what was happening to us
was all wrong and had to find a new attorney to represent ME.

It was understood that Charlie was a sick man on a lot of treatments and pain medications
and would NEVER harm his children by cutting them OUT of his will like he did with the business;
all they were left was a social security check until age 18.  Whatever influenced him to do this
was wrong and has really damaged their future.  The attorney who wrote it up admitted that
he did not represent me, advise me, nor take money from me.  We had rights!!! We did not know.

So motions were made during those final days of probating the will to stop the process but it was
just too late.  They must have figured if the widow did not know and was not advised about
her rights for the children, then his brother would quietly receive full ownership of my husband's shares.

So after paying two new attorneys to fight an endless battle, it was just too late for the
children to receive anything from their daddy.

We had part of his life insurance that he wrote thru the company, his brother got half of that too.  I hope he is
happy with his success.   

I was advised to take their attorney to court for Malpractice but do we need another battle?

All we need is peace and time to move forward.

Life is difficult enough without focusing on the past or on regrets.  These children have been
traumatized enough already and need room to grow now. It will take several years for them to recover
from the pain & trauma of seeing their daddy die at home, and then a lifetime to recover the loss.

http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=samantha127