The Vanished by Cara Putman

Author:Cara Putman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kregel Publications
Published: 2024-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

Wednesday, November 16

The next day started with a call almost as soon as Janae reached the office. Since she was the only one there, Janae quickly started taking notes. Eleanor Larsen’s voice barely reached Janae through the phone, but enough to learn she might have a new client.

“My brother died and I need help.”

“With his estate?” Janae hadn’t done any estate work in Philly, but it should be simple to learn. After all, Joseph Larsen had been larger than life and she well remembered his class. A high school geometry teacher for fifty years, he had every person in town between her grandma and Janae in his classes. Then he’d retired and invested the next years in mentoring young people. The man had made an impact on most of Kedgewick and the surrounding communities.

“Yes.” The woman’s voice took on a more forceful edge. “His will left everything to his beloved goldendoodle, Mr. Whiskers.”

Janae blinked. “His dog?”

“Yes. I don’t think that’s right or what he really wanted.”

“I see.” She thought a moment. “Do you have a copy of his will?”

“Yes.”

“Did he have an attorney?”

“That nasty Mark Ashby.”

Jane fought not to flinch at the man’s name.

“It’s sad about his death, but who would let my brother leave everything to a dog? I could see one of the charities he worked with, but a dog?” A note of indignation filled her voice.

“Can I ask who recommended me to you?”

“Your grandma. Faye and I have been friends since we both joined a Bible study twenty years ago.” She sighed. “Your grandma insisted I call you when I told her about this fiasco yesterday.”

“Can you come by this morning?”

“I’m in town now.”

“Great. I’ll have the coffee ready when you arrive.”

Ten minutes later, Janae scanned the simple will while the older woman sat at the conference table with a mug of black coffee. The You’ve got this message on the mug made Janae smile each time she looked across the table—it was so incongruous in the woman’s hands. But she’d take the message that she could figure this out. One thing about the law was that you could research your way to any answer if you were stubborn enough.

A scan of the will showed a straightforward directive. “My quick research since your call revealed that trusts for the care of pets are liberally construed in their favor.” She kept scanning and then reread a paragraph. “How much do you think your brother had accumulated?”

“His estate should be around a million dollars. He was frugal and his home has increased in value like everyone else’s around here.”

“And you aren’t the trustee.”

“No. The attorney wrote himself in.”

Janae kept scanning and found the language, then she turned on her tablet and scanned the code again. “I think we have a couple ways to challenge the trust. First, we can challenge that Mark made himself the trustee, and then we can challenge that the scope of the trust is too much for one dog. There’s a provision for limiting the amount kept in trust when it exceeds what will be needed to provide for the dog.

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