10ofRods
Verified Anthropologist
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- Jun 27, 2019
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I have a sibling who is in construction and his wife works for local government, clerical position. They were clueless about the term or what a POA was used for, they thought it was only something "old' people did/needed. They aren't stupid people, I get that, they just didn't ever think about it or have the need. Because of my business experience over the years, I brought up the subject, when I thought it would be useful for them. I do think most of my siblings now have a POA with their spouses.
Suzanne and Barry together were much more business savvy than most couples, first from her illness alone there was a need, you would have to be considering these things from day one. (The what if's, ) then she had the foundation, someone savvy helped set that up/got it rolling, and he his own business for 20+ years, no doubt an attorney helped set that up, surely they had knowledge of those basic instruments. Someone who inherited a half a million a few years back had to know some basic financial survival tools.
I can't help it but to me it's beyond telling that Barry didn't even have a 'limited" POA to complete the Indiana transaction considering her cancer had reoccurred in that timeframe.
I don't know if people necessarily know how to estate plan, or get POA's, etc. So many family dynamics involved. I have cousins who have no clue what it means, and others that certainly do. I was very late in helping my parents manage their own affairs, because even though they were in their 70's, it seemed premature to even talk about it (she lived to be 86 and she was very much the kind of person who wanted...plans, POA's; my dad didn't want anything to do with it; people differ).
I don't know that Suzanne was business savvy. Maybe. All of the businesses are in BM's name and I'm thinking that even the Foundation was a BM-thing.
What evidence do we have that Suzanne is business savvy? We hear that Barry was "in control" and we see that all of the income-producing entities were in his name.
I realize that it's tempting to think Suzanne was a mutual partner in their businesses, but personally, I think she had her hands full dealing with BM as a husband - and it was only in a common sense, tangential way that she was involved in their "business." Her "business" may have been raising two healthy, happy daughters and managing BM and his escapades (but not in the business sense). I wouldn't be surprised if she knew fairly little about family finances/business until recently.
IMO.