Chapter 4 - THE MORGAN TRUST
My grandmother Evelyn Morgan created the family trust twelve years earlier.
She sold a regional medical-supply distribution company for a little over nine million dollars.
After taxes and charitable gifts, she structured the remainder across two family branches.
My father Richard had two children.
Kevin.
Me.
Our branches began almost equal.
Kevin’s:
About $2.4 million.
Mine:
About $2.5 million.
Differences came from asset type.
Kevin received more liquid investments.
Mine held a larger stake in an industrial property fund.
Grandmother’s rules were simple.
Education.
First homes.
Medical needs.
Business opportunities under review.
Long-term family security.
No forced equalization.
I knew that phrase because Evelyn had said it directly.
“You do not punish one child for managing money better.”
At twenty-three, I thought she was talking about Kevin and me.
Years later, it became about our children.
I barely used my branch.
My career in healthcare software paid well.
My late husband Aaron had also earned well before he died in an accident three years earlier.
Life insurance helped me pay off our townhouse.
I created a college account for Noah.
The Morgan trust remained mostly invested.
Kevin used his.
House after divorce.
Business investment.
Private-school tuition.
Legal expenses.
Some legitimate.
Some probably stupid.
His branch balance had fallen.
Mine had grown.
Family arithmetic changed.
Kevin needs help.
Claire has more.
May you like
Then Madison became talented at tennis.
That gave everyone a noble reason.
