I've developed a new appreciation for lawyers. Well... MY lawyer, in particular. But, they are time consuming and expensive. The expensive part is what my former sargeant in the Army would call a "Personal Problem".
But, the TIME-CONSUMING part has not only affected me; but, affected those of you that were hoping for more help than I've been able to provide in the last few months. So, I thought I'd at least provide you with an explanation and my intentions going forward.
No, I have NOT abandoned the eCraft. The new patch is exactly what I expected it to be. It's certainly not what I hope it will become. But, it met my level of expectations for now.
My father-in-law has had dementia for at least three years. He was tested in 2008 and 2009 by his neurologist and a geriatric psychiatrist three different times. And, each time the dementia had progressed. The last Mini Mental Exam (MME) score in 2009 was 17/30. He was institutionalized for about a year until on a visit home he absolutely refused to be moved. My 87 year old mother-in-law tried to care for him; but, as you can imagine it was exhausting.
He fell in January of this year. And, thinking that we'd give her some respite for a few days before deciding whether or not to place him back in the nursing home, we agreed that he should go to my sister-in-law's for a few days.
In five days, she took him to her long-time physician at a walk-in clinic and had her doctor sign a certificate that declared that my father-in-law was capable of signing a Power of Attorney document and a will. She effectively took over his life in just five days. She then sent a letter of demand to her mother to fork over half of everything her father and mother owned to her.
Thus began a protracted legal battle that, in total, among all the parties, has already cost well over $100,000. When you are involved in something this complex, there is little time left for cutting shapes.
My sister-in-law's attorneys are with a law firm having a reputation for being a "predatory" law firm. They not only prey on those they are fighting in court. They also prey on their own clients, generating many, many times the number of pages to generate excessive costs. There are six lawyers involved in the cases that have come about because of my sister-in-law's actions. My sister-in-law, for instance, is paying $400 per hour to TWO lawyers. So, she is definitely VERY serious about grabbing 1/2 of the estate even before her parents are dead. If she wins, she will, no doubt, sell her parent's home, forcing her mom into a facility.
Why? The economy. My sister-in-law and her husband took out a $960,000 mortgage and an $80,000 line of credit on a $1.2 million dollar home. They could afford that if they were both working. But, that is not the case. And, in fact, neither are working right now.
So, we have to stop what she is doing to her parents. And, because of the excessive filings and paperwork keeping up is quite a chore. But, we WILL prevail. We will NOT give up. As part of our action, the courts asked that my father-in-law be tested again, and the outcome was no surprise. He tested 15/30 on the MME tests. Clearly, he did NOT have a miraculous recovery back in January.
The final court date was to be in the last part of December, 2010. But, it's been moved back to March 2011. Hopefully, after the holidays I will have a little respite to check out the new software more completely before having to pick up my research for the final trial.
So, that is my explanation for my absence at the very time you needed me to be on top of my game. But, it looks to me that the eCraft is going to be one of those products that developes slowly, over time. So, hopefully, by the time that they bring out the next phase of software, I'll be here for you.
But, by THAT time, I might only be able to test 15/30 on the MME!!!
