Legacy Locked? (sample 3,p 21-30)
A high-stakes family battle where money, power, and bloodlines collide
TITLE: Legacy Locked? Book 1 in the Dawson Family Series.
A novel by Doug Gray, PhD, a business psychologist and family wealth advisor
Pitch: When a secretive Nashville patriarch dies, his heirs must battle deceits, a cryptic trust, and their own dysfunction in Legacy Locked, a gripping psychological thriller where money, power and bloodlines collide.
Disclaimer: This work of fiction contains complex characters who are more exciting than anyone ever met by the author.
Readers: Sample 1 contains pages 1-10. Sample 2 contains pages 11-20. They are posted in this Substack. I’m hungry for ANY feedback about this first draft. Being edited now… Any comments or advice?
Nora Lee said, “He’s handsome. I can see why you are attracted to him.”
“That’s not what I meant, sister, and you know it. We were a fling thing. Past tense.”
“I liked when he summarized the facts. Directly.” Will said, “Unlike the dudes at the Chamberlain Group. We need to know where we stand. He was smarter than he looked.”
“I thought he looked smart enough, thank you very much,” Nora Lee laughed. “Apparently, we don’t have much legal standing. We need to wait until Friday afternoon.”
Will cut her off. “I disagree. We can’t wait another minute.”
“What do you mean? He stated that we have no legal options.”
Will said, “We are Dawsons! We have always been told to act. Do Whatever It Takes. How often did you hear our parents say, “Fortune favors the bold!” We need to act now, before the meeting on Friday afternoon.”
Harper nodded, “I’ve been thinking about that too. In law school we used case studies to consider options. It was a great way to prepare for a court case. Or a legal course of action.”
Nora Lee leaned forward, “So? Say more, sister.”
“Let’s imagine that the three of us think like law students to explore our options. Imagine that we collaborate on what we know and what we don’t know. You called it the good and the ugly. The known and the secrets, right? I like that phrase we just landed on in that Discovery Meeting. We don’t know the estate plans. We don’t know our father’s intentions. We don’t know if mother is the executor, or if a non-family person is the executor. Let’s start there. Who else could he have named as an executor?”
Nora Lee asked, “So, you want to know who the non-family advisors are, those who may be named as executors. Is that correct?”
“Yes. The known and the secrets. I can make a list on my phone.” She began to type.
Will smiled.
“Attorneys from the Chamberlain Group, starting with Topher Chamberlain. The partners are listed here on their website. Rick Murdaugh, Debra Starret, Rone Sutcliff, J. Adam Robinson.”
“Our wealth advisors come from First Tennessee Bank, now First Horizons. They rebranded when they bought Pinnacle Group in the Carolinas. Contact names are on the dividend checks. I have a vertical file in my room with those names,” said Will.
“Didn’t our mother have her own set of wealth advisors?”
“Yes. At 2-3 different banks. I know that she had someone at Chase Manhattan. For personal reasons. Anything over $250K that was FDIC insured. Distributed so that they don’t collapse like Silicon Valley Bank. Any other banks?”
“Yes, I heard her mention JP Morgan’s private wealth group. They advertise in the local news.”
“And I’ve heard her mention Cresset Wealth Group. Apparently, they act as fiduciaries more than some of the others.”
I wonder if our mother even cared about fiduciary risks, thought Will. She only talked about margins and returns. They all say they act as fiduciaries.
He said, “We’re getting quite a list.”
“Yes, and it’s not difficult for us to create this list.”
Harper ordered green tea and said, “This is kind of fun. Like a game of pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey. Who else could be the executor?”
“Let’s use a bigger net. Let’s add on to the list,” said Will. “Any personal friends or mentors that our father may have named as an executor?”
Harper spoke quickly. “I recall him boasting that he had no personal friends.”
“Me too. He must have been incredibly lonely. We all need friends,” said Nora Lee.
Do we? Thought Will. I’m doing just fine without many friends. Maybe I learned that survival trait from him. I wonder if he stayed in touch with Emily. I wonder if our mother had personal friends who could be named as executors.
He asked, “How about any family members? I’m thinking of Uncle Albert. Maybe Aunt Claire.”
Harper said, “Yes. Add them to the list. And add Claire’s son- Paul Richard- he was sometimes included in Thanksgiving dinners.”
“It’s a short list, that’s for sure. Kind of sad.”
Will pulled out this phone to send a text. “Are you available tomorrow for a family sibling crisis?”
Harper said, “Let’s sum up what we do know. We know that none of us has been named as executor. I’m not sure if that’s significant. He was never inclined to teach us about financial literacy. Just to bark at us. Protect our assets!”
“Well, we just learned that they funded a Dawson Family Foundation. I’m kind of pleased to learn that fact. And we learned that Nora Lee has been managing those assets for 5-6 years. I’m delighted by those facts. You go, girl!”
Nora Lee said, “Thanks. I had no idea that you two weren’t aware of that little project. There are so many people with needs. I love managing that Foundation. But let’s get back to our list. Don’t we need to analyze our list? Somehow.”
“Right, said Harper. “I once dated a Vanderbilt medical student who always talked about diagnosis and treatment. He called it the two-step dance. The hardest step is diagnosis, because if you miss something then the patient is screwed. They can die.”
“Like on every TV show,” declared Nora Lee. “They make me cry.”
Harper ignored her. “I learned that physicians use a process called differential diagnosis. They start with what they know. Then eliminate possibilities. Maybe we can start with what we know, then reduce the list to possible options. We don’t have medical histories or lab reports. But we do have our observations. So, we can take this list and ask questions like, “Did our father interact with this person or that person in the last 6 months? Or the last 12 months?”
“Very clever. I understand. Sometimes you impress the hell out of me,” said Nora Lee.
“Then we can analyze the updated list to determine possible options. Correct?”
“Yes, correct,” said Harper. “Behavioral observations are certainly better than our wild speculations and fears.”
Will said, “I love this approach. Great idea, Harper. We can list any times when our father mentioned this-or-that person. Or if he visited this-or-that person. That sounds like a good data collection process. Scientific. What else can we observe?”
Harper spoke quickly. “Bank records. Any financial distributions. I’ve never asked the CPA for access to the transaction history. But they tell me that we have access. As beneficiaries.”
“Another great idea. Yes. I was thinking along that direction too,” said Will. “Follow the money trail. One of us needs to take the lead on collecting that data.”
Harper raised her hand as if in a classroom, “I want that column. There’s a younger CPA, Brad Francis, who hits on me every time I visit their office. Maybe we can meet up.”
Nora Lee said, “That sounds sketchy. Don’t tell your ex. If that’s what he is. What is the status of Jordan these days?”
“Sad subject. That son-of-a-bitch still refuses to sign the divorce papers. He’s been delaying for months now. Jordan is underwater. He has no access to money. He wants to hold onto my boy Mason as long as possible. Drives me fucking crazy, just thinking about him.”
“Argh,” said Nora Lee. “That’s got to hurt. Financial affairs are not affairs. Not really.”
Harper ignored her and walked a few feet from the table. Once again, heads turned to study her. She flipped her hair and reached for her phone to call Brad Francis immediately. After leaving her name and number she returned to her siblings.
“Let’s keep going,” she said. “I’ll take more notes.”
They created a list with 6 names. Then 9. Then 17 names. They added frequency notes for the number of observed meetings in the last 6 months. They added $ signs, like a Michelin restaurant rating, for the person’s wealth, as if they had the capacity to manage money. They added a rating from 1-10 for who most likely to be named as a non-family executor.
A bunch of lawyers and accountants thought Will. No one who understands the real estate business. No one who is clearly on our side.
“I’ll edit these notes later,” said Harper. “When I’m using a bigger screen. I can prioritize them from most likely to least likely.”
“We are doing good stuff here. And it’s kind of fun,” said Nora Lee. “Eat this shrimp tapas. I ordered extra so that we can share plates.”
“House specialty. Never too many. Good call, sister.”
“You’ve got to try this veggie paella. One of my favorite dishes. I’ve been eating more greens and beans lately...” Will lifted his plate to his sisters.
“Yummy stuff, bro. I want to say that you impressed me with Jake Jr. You even complimented his summary. Nice job.”
“You noticed, huh? I liked the fact that he answered our questions directly.”
“Have you guys seen this Fortune app? Just enter your birthday and age,” said Nora Lee. “Then it tells your fortune.”
“Like a horoscope? Or a fortune cookie?
“You tell me. It changes daily. Mine is "You are not behind; you are exactly where you need to be. Breathe, trust, and move forward with ease.” That sounds encouraging, right?”
“It sounds like a yoga move. Or what a yoga instructor would say.”
“We could all do more of that. Breathe, trust, and move forward with ease.”
They all laughed.
Harper asked, “What’s my fortune today? 3.21.94. I’m 35. In case you forgot...”
“I got you sis... How accurate is this? "Embrace change with courage; the universe is aligning to reward your bold moves."
They all laughed louder.
“I’m not interested,” Will said. “Thanks. Call me a stick in the mud. At the Harpeth River. Are we done here? I’ve got to make the rounds this afternoon.”
“Awww. Big brother wants to get back at work. You are a stick in the mud.”
Nora Lee suggested, “Let’s meet at the D-house garage. Upstairs. In my retreat. I can lock the door, and we can use it like a war room. Maybe meet at 4: Maybe get something catered?”
“Good idea. We need privacy that’s for sure. That’s a good space for our next meeting. Thanks, sis. Just one more thing. I think we need a stronger team. Jake Jr. had some legal answers. He gained momentum in that Discovery Session. Would it be OK with you two if I invite another advisor to our next session?
“Huh? What kind of advisor? We are just getting started. We don’t know much.”
Will said, “Yes, I agree. We are early in these early discovery discussions. And we do have some urgency.”
He opened his phone and pushed some buttons. “How about if you look at this LinkedIn profile?” He passed his phone to Harper and Nora Lee. “She’s not a threat. Dr. Jenn has a PhD in psychology. She works with high-net-worth families on succession issues. We met at an investment meeting last spring. I texted her an hour ago, when we started making our list. She just confirmed that she’s interested in helping us.”
Harper frowned, “What would she provide? Exactly?”
Will said, “I’m not certain. I think she works with family members to accelerate the succession planning process.”
Nora Lee said, “It may be a good idea.”
“She has beautiful long grey hair,” Harper added. “Specialized expertise. I don’t know anyone else doing that kind of work.”
Will said, “To be clear, I’m impressed with what we’ve done this morning. But we don’t know what we don’t know. We’re stumbling around in the discovery phase. How about if I have a pre-meeting with her and assess her process?”
The sisters nodded their heads in agreement. Harper said, “You know, we haven’t done much together in years. These meetings today have been surprisingly fun.”
Yes, we are doing better than I would have expected, thought Will. Protecting our assets.
They each grabbed their umbrellas and raincoats. As they walked out of the restaurant, Harper nearly ran into a white robed figure carrying a 3’ long wooden cross on the sidewalk.
Nora Lee said, “Heads up. I spy with my little eyes, someone who looks like Jesus.”
“Or a lost soul.” Will muttered, “Fanatics are everywhere. Taking over the sidewalks and the media.”
The end of the world is near, he thought. I wonder if we will be prepared for this meeting on Friday. Too many bad endings to that story!
Chapter 8
Nora Lee spent the next few hours preparing her retreat-turned-war-room at D-house. She shopped for office supplies. Then she impulsively picked up another hydrangea and an iris. The checkout clerk said, “There is never enough color in the world.”
Nora Lee smiled and agreed.
Harper spent the time at her laptop, then printed out her notes. She called Jordan but only got his voice mail. During the weeks when he watched their son, Mason, he rarely picked up the phone. She always worried.
Will called Dr. Jenn Solitario. “Hello Dr. Jenn, Will Dawson here. We texted a few hours ago. Do you remember meeting me at the Belle Meade Country Club last year?”
“Yes, I do indeed. We had a lengthy conversation about asset protection...”
“Purely hypothetical of course.”
“Of course. I appreciated your text an hour ago. What’s going on?”
He summarized, “Well, the short version is that our father died yesterday. Suddenly. We don’t have his estate papers. This morning my two sisters and I met with an estate lawyer. Then we had a lunch meeting to get organized. I reached out to you during that meeting because I think you could be a resource for us.”
“For you and your sisters? Or for a larger group of advisors?”
“At this point for me and my sisters. We haven’t really done anything together in years. But this morning we discovered some secrets. Not big conflicts. I think we need some resources...”
“Such as...?”
“That’s where I stop. I’m not a psychologist. How about if you share how you might proceed? I assume that there is a process that works for you?”
Dr. Jenn said, “Yes, of course. Think of the medical model. We do some diagnosis and then a treatment. I usually describe it as two phases- the discovery phase followed by the consultation phase. The fact is that all families are emotionally complex.”
“Maybe we are normal in that regard. Plenty of emotions swimming around. Discovery is the word of the day.”
“Sudden deaths often lead to confusion. But you asked about the process. I typically start with 1:1 sessions. You, your sisters, and anyone else you recommend. Then we spend time as a group. That can be a group of family members, which is what you are describing. It could be a group of executives, such as the management team that operates a business. It could be a family office, tasked with managing capital assets and social needs, including succession planning. Almost always, there are communication mistakes and conflicts.”
“So, you’re like a referee at a basketball game?”
“Yes, sometimes,” she laughed. “Without the whistle and striped shirt. I think we all need a little guidance at times.”
“Do you require anything before meeting with us?” asked Will.
“Not necessarily. We will discuss documentation later. The purpose of this first meeting is to understand the scope of your situation. Then to define possible next steps. Advisor fit is critical. If you and your sisters don’t feel comfortable with me, then we go our separate ways.”
Will smiled, “Somehow, I think they will like you. Thanks for sharing your process. We are meeting at 4: I think you said you can be available after 5:00 today?”
“Yes. I’m in Oak Hill today. Where will you be meeting?
“We will be in East Nash. I’ll text you the address.”
“Great. Thanks for thinking of me.”
This could be great. And this could be a suicide vest bomb. Will noticed that he was muttering even more than usual.
Chapter 9
Nora Lee spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning the room in the D-house garage. The refrigerator needed more drinks. She set out a cheese and cracker plate on the counter. With a small fruit salad for Will.
She said, “Alexa, play Big 98 radio... and mute any commentary from Bobby Bones.”
Instantly, Miranda Lambert sang, "I know they say you can't go home again... If I could just come in, I swear I'll leave."
When her siblings knocked on the door, they entered without waiting. Both were soaking wet, huddled under an oversized golf umbrella from the Masters. Harper collapsed the umbrella and placed it near the door.
“Welcome! Thanks for coming by. I can’t recall the last time you two visited me at D-House. I got you some snacks.”
“Your retreat looks great,” said Will. “You always kept a tidy room.”
Harper said, “Goo Goo Clusters, yummy. You’re bringing honey to the party, sister. Damn. I do appreciate your invitations to house concerts. I guess the dates never worked.”
No excuses needed, thought Will. We never needed to work together. So what? Now we do. Now what?
“Do we need an agenda or something? How should we get started here?”
“There are no D-house rules,” Nora Lee said. “Have a seat if you want. Or scream and yell if you want. The neighbors are used to noise.”
Harper said, “Call me silly, but I thought you’d both want a little structure. Here are some handouts. I started with the phone notes from our lunch meeting. The first page lists what we know and don’t know. The second page lists possible executors. By name and contact details. The notes column needs to be developed more... there’s a lot that we don’t know.”
Nora Lee said, “Wow, sis. This is incredible! You’re prepped for this meeting!”
“Thanks, law school kicked in this afternoon. A little structure goes a long way.”
Will added, “Maybe we can fill in some details from this vertical file folder. I’ve skimmed most of these documents this afternoon. I used voice notes to create a short list of questions.”
Nora Lee said, “You both beat me. Great prep. First, I want to read Will’s questions.”
“Yikes. This is a hell of a list.”
1. Financial assets. What bank accounts exist? Who has access? Size?
2. Capital assets. What properties? Addresses? Ownership? Legal entities?
3. Trusts. Individual or shared? Size? Trustees? Beneficiaries? Distributions?
4. Liquid assets. Taxable and nontaxable?
5. Philanthropy. Foundation scope? Restricted? Long term commitments?
6. What else?
“Now I’m pissed off. I don’t know the answers to any of these questions. What are we even doing here?” said Nora Lee.
“Hang on girlfriend,” said Harper. “How about if we start with my handouts to continue the lunch conversation? Maybe we can add some details to the list of possible executors...”
“Got to start somewhere,” Will said. “Should we set some ground rules for this meeting?”
“Like what? Be on time and don’t use your phone?”
Nora Lee laughed.
Will said, “Not quite those. But maybe something about staying on task. Being nice to each other.”
Harper stood up, “Will, we are Dawsons. We speak our mind. We interrupt people. We get shit done. GSD. For better or worse. Are you suggesting that we shouldn’t act that way? For God’s sake, our father’s dead! Our mother’s withholding the estate documents. We don’t have a fucking clue about what to do next!”
Will smiled, “There’s the girl who lets it all out.”
Maybe we will get something done here, he thought. I just need to poke the bear gently.
Harper said, “Yeah, I usually get what I want. Right now, I want a little clarity. Some answers. This is so damn frustrating!”
“Yeah. Not knowing sucks,” said Nora Lee.
They put their heads down and took notes.
Who could be possible executors? Who had any ties to their mother?
At around 5:20, Will’s phone shook. He read the text. “Dr. Jenn’s outside. OK if I escort her up here?”
Now we’ll see if this party gets going. Or if we end up punching one another.
Chapter 10
Dr. Jenn was dressed in a fashionable black suitcoat and pleated slacks that hid her body. She moved smoothly, like a former athlete. Her dress shirt had green and gold that matched her golden necklace and earrings. Accessories. The net result was efficient, self-assured. She collapsed her wet golf-sized umbrella.
Will introduced his siblings and said, “I’m impressed that you were able to meet with us on such short notice. Thank you.”
Dr. Jenn said, “I’m glad it worked for all of us. Frankly, most of my client family meetings occur in the evenings and on weekends. I do what I can to be available on short notice.”
“Well, you certainly did so today!” said Nora Lee.
Harper added, “I’ll start by telling you that Will rarely endorses advisors. So, you must have made a good impression on him.”
Dr. Jenn said, “We make judgements in a millisecond. My memory of our conversation last year was that he trusted me quickly. And he shared some of his concerns about your family assets. That happens to me all the time.”
“Not for me,” said Will. “In fact, one of the sayings that we heard from our father was “Trust nobody.”
“And yet, here we are. You are practicing trust right now. As you may know, the research on trust is clear. There are three parts. Curious?”
“Sure. I need a lesson on trust,” said Harper. “I have issues. Not proud of that fact... Can’t get the asshole to sign the divorce papers.”
Dr. Jenn smiled. “That’s so difficult. Sorry about that. I appreciate you sharing those facts. Frankly, I think we all have trust issues. Yes, trust is defined and measured using the ABI model: Ability, Benevolence and Integrity. You are modelling ability right now by inviting me to your home. And by sharing examples of a family saying. Benevolence is when we assume or expect good things from others. You are showing benevolence by working together. And look at all these notes on the wall! Integrity is when we say or do what we promise.”
“That’s the Dawson family way. GSD.” said Nora Lee.
Harper added, “Some things were drilled into our heads as children. DWIT stands for Do Whatever It Takes. And repeated for years.”
Will stood up. “But that doesn’t mean that our parents acted with integrity or benevolence! They were ruthless and cruel. They withheld information from us.”
And now we don’t know who to trust, he thought. Or how to prepare for the Chamberlain meeting on Friday.
Readers: Sample 1 contains pages 1-10. Sample 2 contains pages 11-20. I’m hungry for ANY feedback about this first draft. Being edited now… Any comments or advice?