Keeping it in Trust

Chapter 1: Trust-ED

Jen: You do realize that you are a social worker to the rich?

Sara: What?

Jen: Yes, you are a psychologist, a book-keeper, a note-taker. You arrange things that ordinary people otherwise deal with themselves unless they are not capable.

Sara: I have not ever thought about it in these terms. I do wish that my mother was alive. She truly believed that money could solve all problems. What I am witness to is “mo’ money mo’ problems” not to mention to what seems like endless bad luck in many cases, especially when offspring are concerned.

Oh well, Sara thought to herself, this is a fun job. There is never a dull moment. Every day is different and the pay is not bad either. This job saved my life. I was a single parent with a law degree and no desire to practice law after my divorce. As luck would have it, at a networking event, I met a woman managing the trust department at FOND Bank. She told me about an opening in the real estate department on the wealth management (trust) side of the bank. That was my start.

My first task: Calling the plumber for a wild trust fund baby that had hookers over the night before that apparently flushed 40 condoms down the toilet. Yep, I had to deal with that. You would think he would call himself. Nope. He’s “got people”.

From there I moved to the special needs trust division. Special needs trusts are trusts designed to allow individuals with funds well above the poverty level to qualify for Medicaid. Why? When created in 1993, a person with pre-existing conditions could not obtain health insurance. Even while Obamacare changed that, coverage can still be cost prohibitive –especially with catastrophic injuries or chronic health conditions.

Quite challenging work as the parents of the children whose accounts that I managed were so traumatized and their children suffering with disabilities that would render them permanent dependents. It was gut wrenching and challenging. These parents were not aware that the funds received and deposited into the special needs trust were solely for the benefit of their child. After years of litigation due to medical malpractice, an automobile accident or some other tragic incident, they could not necessarily fulfill a lot of material dreams. The funds had to last for the lifetime of the child and could not be wasted as Medicaid had to be paid-back in these situations. It was awe-inspiring work but it also led to burn-out. It seemed that there was rarely any good news. Tragedy upon tragedy. At some point, I found myself broken, stressed out and 40 lbs overweight.

Finally, I landed where I think I best fit in. Self-made millionaires in the $5-10 million range unless extremely difficult to work with. The bank is always fearful of having a black woman in this role managing people with more than this–unless the clients were exceedingly difficult in which case the amount did not matter. I could be part of a team –basically the soft voice delivering news that no one else dared to. My specialty is in managing the most difficult of the difficult. I am quite fine with it. I actually did not find many as impossible as many of my peers. I do not care much for the “old money” snobbery which is pervasive –especially the second and third generations who tend to be largely unproductive members of society. The fire in the belly of the self-made is intoxicating. These are the folks with energy and drive. Only my mother has been a better life teacher. In fact, it was because she herself was not easy, that I am not particularly rankled by a lot of the behaviors.

Which brings me to Nina. I have to call her. It’s time. Her mother Christina can no longer manage her affairs and wants to step down as co-trustee of her trust. Christina, inexplicably, took up drinking at the height of her fame and popularity in her 40s. A full blown alcoholic for 40 years, she is now starting to pay the price. Her once sharp mind and great beauty is greatly diminished. She seemingly vacillates in and out of lucidity. She is still striking with magnetic eyes reminiscent of the philanthropist Lilly Safra.

Christina is my favorite client. She has well above the $20 million threshold. I say, she’s not difficult; she’s just opinionated. Now 81, she is slowing down largely due to her drinking. If she had been a tee-totaller, she would probably still be writing. Christina found her fortune (and fame) as a writer of rather self-empowering novels about women that beat all the odds and eventually became the top of their fields–whether that was in the arts or entrepreneurship. All of her heroines are essentially entrepreneurs in the end. Steering their own careers, calling their own shots. Christina exhibited the word “self-actualized”. She is kind of the Coco Chanel of writing. Unlike Mademoiselle Chanel, she did marry a couple of times and have a child, Nina. The marriage did not last and she co-parented Nina with her ex and his wife. Christina also made sure that she was home when Nina came home from school and scheduled her life around hers. As a result, the two seem close. As close as you can be to a larger than life, beautiful mother who always commanded attention. Nina could not have a birthday party where her mother was not the “star”.

Christina has always and only drank in the evenings. It started as a means to fall asleep. Over time, her body craved and demanded it. Because of her rather “controlled'' alcoholism, few are aware of this. She sleeps late because she can. She no longer writes novels but does publish the occasional short story or commentary. Until recently, she would provide her wit to talk shows but now that her looks are fading, she is no longer participating. Fortunately, she doesn't need the money.

Nina, although not self-made, is the exception to the rule of offspring with a wealthy parent. She found her own way or path to success as a photographer. Her works are in galleries around the world. Christina, when she was more lucid, always hailed Nina as her greatest success. To place a child into the world and not give them the tools to survive and thrive is just a “Shande” she would say. I loved when Christina would let out her Yiddish. Her career started in London and she hid her Jewishness. People could not figure out her nationality but guessed Italian– did she need to announce her Jewishishness as well? She felt it unnecessary and she anglicized her last name from Weiss to White. Christina is also made up but a name that she loved. She was born Malka Weiss. She just could not imagine getting anything published under this name. The heroines in her novels are solidly middle-class, sometimes British or American that aspired to live life on their own terms. Although Christina is American, she left the U.S. for Great Britain at 20 to establish her identity. Not find it; establish it.

Christina White was orphaned as a child at age 2. Her mother died during a botched abortion of her second child, conceived almost immediately after her birth. Her mother, Golda, was raped by the shopkeeper that she worked for and could not imagine having beared this child. Her husband, Jim, was a nice but troubled man. He was a chronically unemployed alcoholic. He died when Christina was barely 3 years old. Christina was bounced from relative to relative and experienced emotional and sexual abuse. Her looks were/are exotic. She did not seem to fit into any particular group. Her father’s biological origin was unknown. Times were tough. She was born shortly after the Great Depression began. People were not looking after their own children, let alone someone else’s. At age 13, she had had enough. She lied about her age, stating that she was 16 and found a job working for Enro Factory in Louisville, Kentucky. Christina would maintain her penchant for well-made tailored clothing for the rest of her life.

By age 18, she was quite an accomplished seamstress herself but she longed to become a writer and felt that she needed adventure in order to do so. Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast deeply inspired her although she did not believe she could get hired as a reporter.