Page 62 of The Best Lawyer
“Well, the drafts I prepared essentially took his estate plan back to what it was prior to his marriage to Katy. He wanted everything to go to charity. I advised Mr. Loomis that under Michigan law, a spouse can’t be completely disinherited under a will. Without going into the weeds too much, spouses have certain election rights. So I advised him of the importance ofchanging the trust language and all of that. Though, the effect of a divorce would of course negate spousal election rights and so on.”
“Thank you,” Addison said, holding up a hand. She had, in fact, gone into the weeds. Several juror’s eyes began to glaze over. “Just so I’m clear, this appointment, these discussions took place approximately just four months prior to Mr. Loomis’s murder?”
“That’s correct.”
“And you were in continuous communication up until February of this year, correct?”
“Yes.”
“You prepared a divorce complaint. You prepared amended estate documents essentially cutting Katy out of any inheritance from Tom as well.”
“Essentially. Yes.”
“What about the life insurance policy?”
“Well, that’s outside probate. So I reiterated to him the prudence of changing that from Katy to the trust as primary beneficiary.”
“Thank you,” Addison said. “I have no further questions.”
“Ms. Leary?” Judge Castor said.
This would be quick. Damning as Marcia’s testimony was, I still had one path to reasonable doubt.
“Ms. Murphy,” I said.
Marcia smiled. “We’ve known each other a while, haven’t we?Marcia is fine.”
Both the judge and I frowned. Marcia had reached an age where she cared little about what people thought of her or certain conventions. But we were still in the middle of a trial. We weren’t sitting at a bar together. I ignored her comment.
“Your preparation of these documents for Tom. The divorce complaint, the amended estate plan. This happened four months prior to his death. That’s your testimony?”
“It is.”
“And in the course of your representation, as a general practice, what’s the next step once you’ve prepared those documents?”
“I send them to my clients so they have a chance to review them. If there are no questions, changes, or concerns, we set up a follow-up meeting where the documents could be executed.”
“Did that happen with Mr. Loomis?”
“Did he review them? Yes. I sent the draft documents to Tom by email on February 15th. So that was what, four weeks before he was killed?”
“Thank you,” I said. “Isn’t it true your office manager then contacted Tom to set up the follow-up meeting?”
“She did. Yes. We were supposed to meet on February 28th.”
“Right,” I said. “But Tom never showed up for that meeting, did he?”
“No. Well, he wasn’t a no-show. That’s not accurate.”
“What is accurate?”
“The appointment was canceled.”
“And you have no idea why, do you? He didn’t give you a reason.”
She shook her head. “No. Could have just been a scheduling conflict.”
“But he didn’t reschedule, did he?”
