My Dear Cousin - Sign it Away

3rd June 2021

My Dear Cousin,

One of the offshoots of (Pony Girl) becoming (Pickle)’s conservator was that they decided it was time to resolve mother’s estate. She has been dead for thirty one years now and I don’t disagree with this point. Frankly, when I was in college I wanted to sell the house so I would have the money for school.

They told me I would never get my money out of the house. I felt that this should have absolved me from paying for repairs as I was effectively a prisoner in my own home, but if they had wanted to play fair this whole situation would never have come up.

Anyway, I remember the contract being somewhere in the house and (Pickle) asking me if I was even going to look at it. This was the first time he had identified the contract to resolve the estate, and I wasn’t one to go sticking my nose in things.

I read the contract and it listed me and my two siblings as sellers of the property but only (Pickle) and (Pony Girl) as the buyers. Had I signed that contract I would have signed away my home. I’d be living on the street now I believe. After all, I had been told to leave and never come back.

Needles to say, I never signed the contract and I was plenty angry about it and mentioned this a few times to (Pickle). At the third or fourth of these he claimed it was just a mistake, but that was months after the fact. I talked it over with a lawyer or two and they agreed that if it had been a mistake the lawyer who drew it up would have had to correct it for free.

Now that I think about it, if it were a mistake then neither (Pony Girl) nor (Pickle) had read the contract before signing it. I guess I could believe that of (Pickle) but (Pony Girl)? She really had to have read it before she signed it.

I would also have to say that (Pickle) wasn’t surprised when I pointed out that the contract listed me only as a seller. I don’t believe it was a mistake. I believe it was just one more attempt to take what is mine away. It would not be the last time.

Best,


Richard Leland Neal