The trust was originally established with a principal of one hundred and forty thousand dollars to ensure my basic needs were met if anything happened to my mother. It paid out a monthly distribution of seven hundred and twenty five dollars for my food, clothing, and education. Megan also sent me photographs of old bank statements from Lakeland State Bank that she found alongside the letter, and the financial trail explained everything my father had done. He collected those monthly checks for years, keeping me under his roof just to cash in on my existence. The most heartbreaking discovery was seeing three additional payments totaling two thousand one hundred and seventy five dollars deposited into his account during September, October, and November. During those exact months, I was already living in my aunts spare room while she struggled to buy my school supplies out of her own limited grocery budget. My father had literally abandoned me on a dirt road but continued collecting my child support money.
I immediately contacted Megan to arrange a face to face meeting because she deserved to know the full truth about the father who had lied to her. I also received an unexpected message from my Uncle Pete welcoming me back to the family, which I chose to completely ignore. The most urgent issue, however, was that the wedding invitation listed my aunts private lake property as the venue, even though Diane had explicitly forbidden my father and his new wife Cheryl from building there. I gathered my aunts property tax receipts totaling two thousand one hundred and forty dollars annually and brought them directly to a tough real estate attorney named Sandra Reeves. Sandra reviewed the certified deed and confirmed that my father was committing egregious trespass by constructing an unauthorized event pavilion on family land. She advised me to document the illegal construction immediately because my aunt could be held entirely liable if any wedding guest was injured on the unpermitted stage my father had built.