Your Neighbor Swore You to Secrecy. The Court Wants a Number. Say It?

Your neighbor made you promise never to tell anyone how much money he has. Now a court-appointed lawyer wants the number, and his nephew will be in the room when you say it. Keep the promise, and a judge may put a stranger in charge of his money. Break it, and the one person he wanted kept out will hear it from you. In this fictional POV story, you teach machine tools at a technical college. Outside Courtroom 3 there is one bench, and you share it with your neighbor Orrin Pike and his nephew Duane, a student from your night class years ago. Duane has asked a judge to put someone in charge of his uncle's money, and Orrin has made you swear not to say a word about it. A lawyer the court assigned is about to talk to three people this morning, and you are the third. Chapters: 0:00 One Bench 0:41 A Number His Nephew Never Heard 1:41 The Nephew Who Swept 2:13 Not a Word, Leo 3:03 The Lawyer in the Doorway 3:29 A Hand's Width 4:38 Nothing Gentler Would Do 5:15 Eight Weeks Ago 5:58 Your Turn, Duane 6:15 The Barrel Out Back 6:56 Duane Looks at You 7:27 The Night He Left the Class 7:48 The Neighbor 8:26 Fifty-Four Years 8:56 Sealing a Record 9:33 Duane Stands Up 10:22 The Night at the Workbench 10:45 The Micrometer on the Wood 11:32 How Much? 12:20 Less Than Half an Hour 13:20 On the Way Out 13:53 At the Light by the River 15:24 The Red Light 15:48 The Cap in His Lap 16:44 The Machine Shop 17:22 Where Did It Go, Teacher? 18:39 Stamping the Cold Off Their Boots Invented story figures: Orrin Pike is 79. Since January of 1972 he has put $55 a month into one brokerage account, 648 months in a row with every dividend reinvested, and the story puts its value at about $2.3 million. Eight weeks before the hearing he sold some of his stock and sent $9,000 to a company with a post office box, and three weeks after that the firm stopped a second $9,000 transfer. Duane is 52, and you have lived next door to Orrin for 11 years. The names, the amounts and the account history are invented for the story. The $2.3 million is worked out from the invented $55 a month using historical yearly returns of large U.S. stocks with dividends reinvested, before taxes and fees (data: Aswath Damodaran, NYU Stern). Background context (separate from the invented people, places and figures): A petition for guardianship of the estate asks a court to appoint someone to manage another adult's money and property. Guardianship rules are set by each state, a court normally needs evidence before it takes over an adult's finances, and a person named in such a petition may have the right to a lawyer. A guardian ad litem is typically a lawyer the court appoints to look into the person's situation and report on their interests. FINRA Rule 2165 lets a brokerage firm place a temporary hold on a withdrawal from the account of a customer age 65 or older when the firm reasonably believes financial exploitation has occurred, is occurring or will be attempted. The firm generally has to notify the people authorized on the account and any trusted contact person within two business days, the first hold lasts no more than 15 business days, and extensions are possible, for example after the firm reports its concern to a state agency or a court. Under FINRA Rule 4512, firms must make reasonable efforts to get the name of a trusted contact person, someone the firm may call about possible financial exploitation; that is not the same as giving anyone a power of attorney over the account. This summary is general and simplified; laws change, differ by state, and every case depends on its facts. All stories on this channel are fiction. Characters, events and financial figures are invented or illustrative. This video is for entertainment and general education only and is not financial, investment, tax or legal advice. #LeoMoneyPOV #pov #guardianship #seniorfinance #personalfinance #moneystory