The good, bad, and ugly

The good: we had a lovely weekend at the cottage. Weather was gorgeous, mom and I swam around the point... good family times.

Julie is 7 months old now and I am blown away with how smart she is! She learned how to clap and loves it!

Carlos and I celebrated our second anniversary yesterday. It was lovely! We went to the place we had our wedding reception and had a lovely dinner and then walked around the grounds and took some pictures.

The bad: On Sunday, my uncle got his 10 year old son involved as a pawn. He got his son to call Oma at the cottage and when Oma asked him when they were coming to visit her, he said he was going to come and pick her up to take her to their cottage. When they showed up (it was all 3 of his sons), we thought perfect, they can visit with Oma here like she wants! But the 10 year old insisted on taking Oma to their cottage and even said "my dad told me to bring her to our cottage because he wants to talk to her there". So, he had obviously been trained. My cousin looked very uncomfortable that he had to say that. So, we weren't about to get them involved, but they did stay to visit for awhile. Until their mom called to see if they were on their way (I guess she was worried that Oma was putting up a fight about going to their cottage). She ended up going and stayed for a couple hours. My uncle and aunt dropped her off and Carlos and I were sitting on the deck when they came and they totally snubbed us. I waved and they totally ignored me. So, I guess they are mad at me too. The night before, there was a big party at the marina, and they ignored my brother, so I guess they are not speaking to our entire family.

The ugly: we had the appointment with Oma's lawyer yesterday. It actually went quite well. The ugly part is he informed us that my uncle has hired a lawyer and his lawyer has been in touch with Oma's lawyer. I suspect my uncle hired a lawyer because he couldn't get any information from Oma directly about Will changes, so he thought he'd try another route. His lawyer talked to Oma's lawyer and because of client confidentiality, Oma's lawyer couldn't tell him any specifics about any documents he is preparing, but he did say that Oma has been in to see him and he recommended a capacity assessment and that she passed that. So, basically, my uncle wouldn't have a case if he tried to contest the Will.

The good thing is, a couple weeks ago, my mom walked in on my uncle talking to Oma and he was asking her "are you trying to change your Will? What changes are you trying to make"? Luckily, Oma didn't remember, so she said she wasn't making any changes to her Will.

The new Will was signed yesterday, so that is good. Only took 3 months! But, I'm really glad the lawyer insisted on a capacity assessment because now we know my uncle will contest it when the time comes for sure. And he won't have a case.

I am really relieved that the Will is now changed. That doesn't help us with the day to day life though and all the stress my uncle is causing. The lawyer recommended mediation, which is what we are moving ahead with now. It will be Oma, my uncle, my mom, and me involved in that and initially, the mediator will meet with us all separately. So, I'm sure that will take place in the next couple of weeks. It really offends me that my uncle thinks I would lie for my mom, but the mediator is the professional, so she will listen to everyone and then come up with some sort of plan with how we can move forward.