Relieved and Pissed Off yet Supremely Happy!

Last Thursday morning Shane sent me a text asking if I had signed the waiver for him to be the executor of my dad's estate. He was nervous about signing it because the application that came with it had our ex-step brother's name on it as an heir. We wondered why his name was included if he hadn't proved he was adopted yet. I told Shane I would call the lawyer to figure out exactly what we were signing and if Jason could use this signature in the future legally some way even if he wasn't adopted. After leaving a voicemail for our lawyer, Keara and I headed over to IKEA to pick up a dresser to use as a changing table for the baby's room.

As we were walking inside IKEA the lawyer called. Keara and I took a seat on the couches in the front of the store while I took his call. He tried to explain the three things we were signing but failed to understand our concern about Jason's name being included. Finally after a 10 minutes of blah blah blah he blurted out "You need to relax!" He finally said the application would not be submitted until we find out if Jason is or is not an heir. He wasn't submitting it with his name, then filing an amendment to remove it, he simply would not be filing it until it is known. Had he just said this from moment one, we wouldn't have been freaking out. He's been a lawyer for so long, I think he's forgotten how to speak in layman's terms. Towards the end of our conversation he added that the search came back for Sevier County, no adoption papers were filed in that county. This was good news! He said he doesn't see why they would have filed the adoption in any other county because they lived in Sevier County at the time. But they were currently searching the entire state of Utah. If they don't find it in Utah, then it's up to Jason to prove he was adopted. I called Shane to tell him the promising news and told him I would keep him posted.

About 20 minutes later in the beds and dressers area of IKEA the lawyer calls back. I didn't really expect to hear from him for a week or two at least so I was confused as to why he was calling back now. I answered the phone and he said they decided to run a check for name changes, since that's what we all thought had actually happened and the results came back immediately! He had indeed just changed his name to Kendrick. He said the name change and adoption processes are almost identical so it's possible that Jason thought he was adopted, but he doesn't really believe that. He agrees with us and thinks that Cathy and Jason lied about it, assuming maybe we'd just believe it and start dividing dad's stuff up quick so they could get their hands on whatever we'd give them...I guess he did get a gun out of it. Why else did he throw it out there in the first 5 minutes of seeing me when we first got to Utah? "Hey remember me?...Jason, dad adopted me when I was 17." Him and Cathy apparently told everyone they saw this same thing when we all got to Richfield. However, how stupid do you have to be to think the truth wouldn't come out in the end? Maybe they didn't expect us to get a lawyer? Who knows?

Regardless, I was totally jumping up and down in the aisle at IKEA, crying tears of joy, knowing my dad could be at peace now. The lawyer said it would be one in a million if someone actually changed their name, then went through the same process again for an adoption, let alone in separate counties. It would be one way or the other, but no one does both because the adoption includes a name change. However knowing the name change was done in Sevier and there was no adoption done in Sevier, gives us 100% certainty that dad did not adopt Jason. We are finally done dealing with those money grubbing, trouble causing LIARS!
DONE!