My name is Wendy Finch and I spent thirty one years as a family court judge observing families destroy themselves over property. I retired at sixty five having learned that people rarely fight over objects but rather over love and control. I lived just outside Cedar Falls Iowa in a beautiful house that my late husband Richard built entirely with his own hands. We poured the foundation in nineteen eighty eight and finished the final beam three years later. Richard was a civil engineer who crafted our white oak floors and walnut cabinets. He died seven years ago at sixty four after thirty eight years of marriage. My life simply rearranged itself around his absence. The most important object in our home was a crooked pine bookshelf he built with our son Derek when Derek was nine years old. It leaned slightly to the left and had two shaky words burned into the back panel reading Dad and me. I preserved that home exactly as it was.
She delivered this cruel demand without a single tremor in her voice. Instead of reacting with anger I reached into my blazer to touch the unsigned deed and decided to respond to the reality of the situation. I immediately drove home and went into Richards old workshop where I wrote the word denied across the signature line of the property transfer document. The next morning I skipped the wedding entirely and contacted my attorney to place the house into a protective trust. The home would remain safely outside any marital claims while I arranged for movers to completely empty the property.
Following a brief consultation with a real estate attorney who confirmed my protective trust was entirely lawful Derek began attending counseling with Morgan to determine the future of their marriage. I chose to step back and simply be his mother without interfering in his marital decisions. He recently visited my new apartment for a quiet dinner where we shared fond memories of Richard before he carefully loaded his childhood bookshelf into his car. I am now sixty eight years old and completely at peace knowing my husbands legacy remains protected.
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