As I was thinking this week about Myrtle and how much fun I had caring for her. Did I have hard times? Yes, there were some hard times for me, but it was not Myrtle's fault, it was mine. I should have never been working seven days a week, sometimes getting four hours of sleep a night. I needed to get help. But I was trying to save Mrs. Rockwell money, because she just did not have enough to pay me the going rate with her military retirement. Over the ten years I estimate I saved her based on the going caregiver hourly/daily rate, approximately $248,000 dollars in the ten years I helped her. Yes, sounds like a lot but it is true.I saved her $248,000.
Anyone helping an elderly person or knows someone who is, if the person being cared for owns a home and is over 62 can get a reverse mortgage. I should have encouraged Myrtle to follow through on this because she wanted one. But her executor Deborah Laughran ( a paralegal in Solona Beach by vocation) counseled her against it.Well of course ( I am not sure why Myrtle ever chose her to handle her estate). The Reverse mortgage would have saved Mrs. Rockwell lots of money, paid off an existing loan and been good for her! But as it stands the executor and her husband Michael, "apparently" made out sweet on this deal. Myrtle's house when she passed (4639 Lenore Dr. SD 92115 ) would have sold in 2011 for approximately $345,000. Less realtor fees if used and the existing loan they would have about $$225,000 or so. But since they did not sell it but kept it and rented it for about two years, then sold it for $425,000 in Nov. 2013, now there is maybe $100,000 more on the table. How much more tantalizing is that! Yes indeed. Now we are looking $300,000 to enjoy. Not to mention the antique furniture Mrs. Rockwell had worth thousands of dollars. Myrtle did trust to some degree her executor; but she did say of her that should would go after every nickel, and she apparently did. There was even a Morgan Stanley account when I left at approximately $32,000. I am guessing they took that too.They would not have had such a sweet deal had I not been saving Mrs. Rockwell almost $2050 per month. Times twelve times ten, lots of money. As an attorney I spoke to said, "well these kind of people should be in jail but she had all her i's dotted and t's crossed." They may enjoy for now but the real, very real fact is that we all answer and give an account to God, the Lord Jesus. And these two are no exception. Remember, everything is being recorded so as to our giving an account to Him.
Is there a lesson? YES. Have a neutral third party handle the executor-ship of the estate you know of, and have it looked over by an attorney in the presence of the owner. Have it updated often as well. I am not sure when it comes to money that you can trust anyone, even friends or relatives.
Keep in mind I say "apparently" in paragraph two because I left after being kicked out when they wanted me to pay rent with no job as Mrs. Rockwell was my income. I painted the inside of the house and outside without being paid for it though asked to do it, nor was I reimbursed for the material. All I know is the neighbors were asking, "who are these people taking all of Myrtle's things?" Nobody knew them, yet the neighbors knew Myrtle's family, sister, nephew and niece. But not these people. What would that tell you. They were never around to visit. When I sent a letter to the executor requesting information on the disbursing of the estate I was basically ignored. All these things I wrote here are true as I cared for Mrs. Rockwell for ten years, seven days a week twenty four hours a day; I knew what her will was and its changes. The above was not it. period. Absolutely. But I put the truth out in the world. Myrtle would not like what happened.
These things are all true as I know and knew it as well as knowing Myrtle's desirous will. I am glad to be corrected if otherwise, but I saw them working on the house in August/Sept 2013 just before the house sold. I also know they took all the furniture and had control of bank and investment accounts. Hard to conclude? I think not. Out in the universe as they say. We reap what we sow, that is the law. Well God said, "all things work together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28. I have not seen the good but I trust the Lord as He says, so I know it is. I just can't see how someone could be trusted so and do the contrary. How can one sleep? I can't imagine. But I don't know what they are going through maybe they have all sorts of trouble. But if the "things" in this life is all you lust after, a sad and sorrowful end. Eternal separation from the Glory of God.
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