Comprehensive Estate Plans

When their father passed unexpectedly, the three brothers—Evan, Luke, and Daniel—returned to their hometown for the funeral. Their father, a proud General Motors retiree, had built a good life after decades on the line, saving enough to buy a small woodworking shop and a cherished lake cabin—a home full of memories. What he didn’t leave, as they soon learned, was a proper estate plan.

At first, they promised one another not to argue. “We’ll figure it out fairly,” Evan said over the kitchen table.

Weeks turned into months. The workshop sat idle, the cabin needed repairs, and the money in their father’s accounts was frozen pending probate. Each brother came to believe he knew what their father really wanted. Evan argued for selling everything and splitting the proceeds. Luke, who had helped in the shop after high school, insisted he deserved to keep it. Daniel refused to sell at all, saying their father would have wanted the cabin to stay in the family.

Eventually, anger replaced grief. The brothers hired separate lawyers, each certain the law would vindicate him. Legal fees drained the estate, and the shop fell apart without anyone to run it. By the time a judge divided what was left, the family’s harmony—along with nearly half the inheritance—was gone.

A year later, standing alone at the lake cabin before its sale, Daniel whispered, “All this because Dad didn’t have a real plan.”