Tina:  Sounds interesting. And Gabriel Scott?

Bette: Gabriel Scott entered the firm right after law school. Evidently another Harvard graduate. Dad was a junior partner and decided that Mr. Scott would assist him with his work load. Evidently, Mr. Scott was a tax lawyer and did domestic law as well, particularly estates and property settlements and advice for nasty divorces and prenups and that sort of thing. I can see why Dad would want someone like him on his team. Eventually, Mr. Scott was admitted as a partner. According to Mom, he was Dad’s closet friend at the firm. Dad looked to him as if he were a son or a younger brother.

Tina:  And when are we meeting with him.

Bette: We are meeting with him this afternoon. I have kept dinner open in case the meeting goes that long. When we leave him this evening, I want to know everything he knows with respect to Mom, Paris, you and me. And I have tomorrow afternoon and Saturday open in the event we need to follow up with Harriett or Mr. Scott or anyone else.

Tina:  And what is this morning’s meetings about?

Bette:  This morning, we are going to be given access to all the files on Dad on his personal business. His divorce files, his estate planning files, his pre-nups files, and any miscellaneous personal files.  They may throw in his investment files and real estate files. Then we meet with Mr. Scott at 2:00 pm in his offices.

Tina: So, this morning we will be reviewing files?

Bette:  Yep. Not a very exciting prospect, I know. But law firms generally keep excellent files and will contain details which will not come out in conversation. That is generally the most complete record of a transaction. But for the most part it will be just facts and no emotional characterizations.

Tina:  And they are letting you see these?

Bette: Yes, but only because Dad has been dead for more than 18 years and the estate has been completely distributed now. They feel that everything has been done and nothing can be undone. Most of these files have been in their offsite storage and is slated to be destroyed in 7 years. So, when I expressed an interest in reviewing these files, they have gone to the trouble of locating them and bringing them to an office for us to review. We will probably get a nice bill for this service. But I do not care at this particular moment. I am just interested in finding information. And the files is where we start.