March 1, 2010.

“Hey, buddy, what are you doing in the evidence room?”, the sergent asked Marco.

Marco started to run, but ran into another officer emerging from the bathroom and fell to his face. At that point, the baggie he was carrying fell to the floor. “Hmm, taking evidence from the Jenkins case file, the screws to the motor mounts and the photos of the motor mounts. Looks like you’re going to be doin’ some time.” Marco was led to an interrogation room and handcuffed to the chair. After sitting there about an hour stewing, when Detective Black ambled in. “Well son, you’re in a whole lot of trouble. Let’s see attempted theft of government property, and carrying a concealed weapon in a police station, for starters. I understand you were told your rights before you got put in here. That you’re under arrest and your right to counsel and to keep your trap shut. Is that right, son?” “Yeah, but I got a permit for that gun”, Marco replied. The detective chuckled, “I know, but it still doesn’t allow you to carry it concealed into a police station. Now, I suspect if I start digging around in your finances and start digging around in your life, that I’ll find enough connections between you and the younger Mr. Jenkins that I’ll be able to add the charge of conspiracy to obstruct justice and accessory to attempted murder. That means about 25 years in prison instead of five unless you want to play ball and tell me who put you up to this little game.” Marco looked at the ground for a moment, “no, I’ll tell you what I know about Jenkins and about his wanting to kill his old man, too, if you’ll cut me some slack.” The detective smiled the slid a yellow pad across the table, “write it up for me to show the D.A.” After meeting with the D.A., they decided to let him plead to simple petty theft and thirty days in jail if he gave truthful testimony against Junior.

Later that afternoon, Detective Black, the D.A. and the lawyer for Junior met. Your client stepped in it big time and gave the statement from Marco to the attorney. “Look, we can try this and send your guy up for 50 years to life. But, your father has asked us to give your client some leniency and he was the target. So, we have a one time thirty minute offer for you. 20 years at a minimum security prison.”

About twenty minutes later the lawyer emerged and said, ‘we have a deal”.

March 2, 2010.

Jack, Sr. had put Sally and her kids up in a nice condo in the same school district so that they would not have the trauma of changing schools mid year. It also allowed Sally to be sure that a life with Jack is what she wanted and what her kids wanted, and allowed Jack some time to make sure that he wanted Sally. They had continued to see each other every day and he got to know her kids. At first they were a bit skiddish about this new man. But after several candy bribes, and several trips to the ice cream parlor, they came around. They clearly saw that he was not mean like their daddy. As Jack pulled up to Sally’s condo, two shots rang out.

After mulling over the options for a second, Beau said, “Yeah, you gimme $200,000 and I’ll walk away from this marriage.” At that point Jack pulled out another cashier’s check for $100,000 and slammed it on the table. “Here you go, another $100,000, that makes $200,000, now sign the agreement.” Beau looked at the two checks in disbelief, shook his head and signed the agreement and stuffed the checks in his pocket. “Please note that in the agreement it says that you are to stay away from your wife and children and that you’ve waived all visitation privileges except when your wife permits them. Got that. So, I don’t want to see your face snooping about looking for your wife and kids.”

February 15, 2010.

“Mr. Jenkins, you stand accused of attempted murder, flight, and vandalism, how do you plead?”, the judge asked Jack, Jr. “Not guilty”, he said with his had bowed. “What say the State?” the judge asked the prosecutor. “We ask for remand your honor, this man has already fled the country once.” “What is the defense position?” the judge asked in a bored tone. “Mr. Jenkins has substantial ties to the community, he is deeply involved in his father’s car business, and should get bail which is his constitutional right”, the defense attorney stated. “Nice try”, the judge said, “but I’m going to remand. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. Trial is to be on May 15. Pretrial motions to be filed by May 1. Anything further? Hearing nothing, we are adjourned.”

Sitting in the back of the Courtroom was Jack Jenkins, Sr. It broke his heart that his son would try to kill him and have such a disdain for life that he would put another innocent person at risk. Sure, he hadn’t been the perfect father and he wasn’t there all the time, but this?

February 16, 2010.

“Hey, Marco, thanks for coming to meet me here”, Jack, Jr. said to the Private Eye. “I’m in a world of hurt here”. “Yeah, you shoulda trusted me to do the wet work. Here’s what I’m going to propose”. At that point, they discussed their plans.

We take a break in our story to ask if you have checked out your will in the last few years. I would recommend that you take it to a qualified attorney for review. With 2010 and 2011 bearing down on us, it would be wise to have an attorney review your estate plan. As Congress borrows money and spends it, ultimately the piper will have to be paid. I suspect that Congress will look at death taxes as a logical place to start. And if you don’t have a will, the state through intestacy statutes writes one for you. And while joint titles avoid probate, they don’t plan for taxes and create a mess with a joint death. Remember it is not unusual for families to travel together. So, go see the attorney. Odds are pretty good that you won’t die immediately after the meeting. But you don’t want to tempt Murphy’s law by putting it off.

As you can see by this tale, business succession plans sometimes go awry, so review those with your attorney as well. Have a great Sunday.