"Allow me to explain. Last week, a private investigator asked me to have the court intervene on a case of his. He had been looking for a missing person, whose identity had been changed, and he needed me to summon the person in for confirmation. Usually, family court wouldn't get involved in cases involving adults, but this one was different. Do you know of a 'Phillip Joshua Burton?' the judge asked.
"No. Should I? Is he a relative of mine?"
"Actually, he is you." the judge answered, as he grabbed a folder from a drawer. "The investigator had this folder with him. Take a look a this certificate."
He handed me the top paper from the folder. It was a birth certificate for this 'Phillip,' yet nothing on it was making sense to me.
"This can't be mine. Yes, I was born on August 23 at 11:19 pm, and my height and weight look about right, but nothing else is. First, I born in Kentucky, not Queens County, New York. Second, my mother's name is Cynthia McDonald, not this 'Lucinda Marie Burton.' I don't know my father's name, so it could be 'Jonathon Alexander Burton', but I have no way of knowing. Why does someone think this is me?"
"From what the investigator told me, your mother had the divorce papers ready to be filed the day of your birth. Her attorney had her discharged from the hospital barely an hour before your father arrived to pick the two of you up. He had no idea your mother wanted a divorce until a lawyer handed him the papers at the hospital. She had set it up so that she would get sole custody, but no other settlement. No alimony or child support, and absolutely no paternal rights or visitation. "
"How could something like that happen? How could she get away with something like that?" I stammered
"Probably a favorable judge, possibly some sort of payoff. It's been too long to know for sure, and nothing was investigated at the time. The best that could be done was privately. Your grandfather, Joshua Douglas Burton, hired someone to locate you and your mother. For over two years, they searched, but couldn't find either of you. Joshua even tried to bribe you grandmother, Vera Rose Rutlidge Arnett McDonald, with a monthly stipend to help raise you if she told him where you two were, but she never did. He died just before you would have turned three, without ever even getting to see you."
"So that's where the money must have come from." Suddenly, things started to fall in place.
"What do you mean?" the judge asked.
"A few weeks before I turned twenty-one, my grandmother died. Her bank then called on me saying that an account in both our names was being audited for failure to pay taxes. From the time I was born, $500 a month was being put in, with an additional $100 on my birthday and Christmas, with a few smaller amounts around other holidays until I was three. At ten, the amounts went up to $1,000 a month and $250 for the holidays. At sixteen, there was a $1,000 deposit, as well as one when a graduated high school. When I turned eighteen, the monthly deposits stopped, as did the one for Christmas. All that was left were $5,000 deposits at the start of each semester at college, as well as $1,000 on my birthday. When she died, the last $6,000 had already been put in
"Apparently, she never spent any of that money. She did take out some of the interest, but never more than half of what was paid out per month. The government said that I had to pay the taxes on that money, ever though I never even knew it had existed. Fortunately, one of my friends was pre-law and was able to get the judge he was working with to look into my case. We were able to get the account legally established as an unused trust fund, and I got to keep it all. My mother had to fork over some of her inheritance to pay some of the back taxes, but mine money was clear by the time the last $5,000 got deposited. I really could have used that money growing up, but I used it immediately instead. I bought a house, here in Lexington. It was it foreclosure, so I got it way below market value, and still had enough to live on for awhile, as long as I invested it and spent it wisely.
"Then, when I turned twenty-five, I got a surprise. The bank said a new deposit had been forwarded to the old account for the amount of $250,000! And this was after fees and taxes had been paid. I never really looked into where the money came from, I guessed it was just another hidden account my grandma had, or perhaps a duplicate of the original one, which had about the same amount when she died. I kept it secret from my mother, almost everyone really, but otherwise, I been quite comfortable these last few years. With the right financial outlook, I have barely made a dent in it. This still doesn't explain Samuel."
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