Chapter 18 - WALTER KEENE
Walter faced a professional ethics inquiry.
Not because he forged documents.
He did not.
Because as trust counsel, he relied on Margaret as intermediary too long after Adam’s death despite instructions requiring direct notice to me.
He admitted:
“I mistook grief for incapacity.”
There.
He sent one email.
I did not answer because it went to spam.
He should have escalated.
Certified mail.
Independent counsel.
Court notice.
He did not.
He trusted the competent older woman managing the house.
Familiarity.
Again.
The disciplinary authority issued a reprimand and required trust-administration reforms.
No license loss.
His firm adopted direct-beneficiary notice protocols.
No one family member could block communications simply by saying:
She can’t handle it.
Systems improved.
Walter apologized.
I accepted professionally.
Not emotionally required.
He gave me Adam’s remaining file.
One final note:
If Rachel ever wants to sell, listen before accusing her of abandoning the family.
I laughed.
Adam knew exactly how his mother would frame change.
The house had become symbol before any of us were born.
George wrote a hundred-page trust trying to stop that.
Could not fully.
Documents help.
May you like
Culture still matters.
I started changing ours.
