Thank you for this wisdom. Congratulations on making it to 91.
My mother had an excellent trust and we four daughters made it through it all without arguments, etc.
Thus far, I have had to eliminate my children from any planning. Am not sure what direction I will be going at this point.
Their father (we were married 30 yrs) and after our divorce 14 years ago, their father has now died at age 76, with no will and no trust for them to follow, but he had an attorney picked out and ordered the children to not inform me of anything.
A nightmare. One reason I divorced him long ago, he was a selfish, self serving idiot and now our oldest son is having to deal with my ex's mess with an attorney in the middle; and he caused all my children to be estranged from me with lies all the way around.
Yes, this sounds like a nightmare. So sorry you are having to go through this. At this point it may be a good idea to get this all down on paper, find a good probate/trust lawyer, and pay for an advice appointment. If you decide to go this route, please make sure that the person you choose is a specialist in this field. It may be that only one appointment is needed for the right attorney to set you on the right path. Good luck.