My sister called me on Tuesday night to tell me that she and my father had been in court again that day with my mother. This time over legal fees and those items that my mother didn’t get: the snowmobiling gear my sister has and the antique sword that I have. My mother also claims that everything else she got from my father was damaged and that she’s still missing 20 odd baskets (there are NO MORE BASKETS in my father’s house!). Mind you, my mother got a lump sum from my father in the amount of $33,000 (money from him refinancing the house). She wants more money from the house (!), the missing items, compensation for the damaged items.
In court, my father’s lawyer established that the gear and the sword are not in my father’s possession, one belongs to my sister, one belongs to me.
The judge finally turned to my mother and asked, “Are you seriously wanting me to issue a court order to your adult children to give you things that they consider theirs?”
My mother replied with a yes.
A ruling hasn’t been made yet.
My sister said she’ll…well, I can’t repeat what my sister said, but it had something to do with the gear ending up in my mother’s nether regions.
But…the sword, I found out, my grandmother gave to my father. Then my father gave it to me. I’m a fencer. I love fencing, I will fence until I am completely physically unable to do so.
I’m not giving it up.
June 23rd, 2005 at 6:45 pm
Mack, I feel for ya. I can understand how you would be torn by feelings of anger, betrayal and some degree of guilt even tho you don’t have any reason for the guilt. When you are a caring person it’s tough to completely disregard a parent or any other loved one even when they are being selfish and vindictive and juvenile.
I can’t believe that the court would actually consider awarding the sword to her, but if in the end that worst case scenario does come to pass, I believe you have it in you to move past it. I’ll be wishing for the best-case scenario (the one where your childish acting mother eventually realizes how vindictive and hurtful she’s become) comes to pass.
June 28th, 2005 at 2:17 pm
Okay, I’m in shock that this woman is still obsessing so badly over this sword….
The way I see it, and I may be missing something (beyond the fact that she’s nuts LOL) is that the sword was a GIFT to your father, not something he himself purchased. Therefore, at least according to IL rules, it is not a marital asset and she has no claim to it… EVEN if the grandmother that made the gift was HER mother. And as his personal property, he can do whatever he wants with it at any time.
It would possibly be different if she could somehow prove that he’d promised it to her at some point, but I highly doubt that your father did any such thing and I have a feeling it would be even less likely that she could prove it on the off chance that he had.
Any idea when the next hearing is? That’s likely to be when the judge hands down his/her ruling.
{{{{{{{{{Mack}}}}}}}}}