Scratching my head

I have a really unusual situation that I want to share. I’m a bit stunned, and I don’t know how to react.

My brother (Ryan) died in a car accident just over 5 years ago. His wife (Tonya) and 2 children were airlifted to Primary Childrens and University of Utah hospital in critical condition. The other 2 children came out unscathed. My brother had just started a new job, built a new house (hadn’t even lived in it for a month yet–never made a payment.) Unfortunately, he hadn’t filled out the paperwork for health insurance at his new job, so they were all uninsured. My brother was a television announcer, so a lot of people knew him. There were lots of fundraisers. I set up a trust fund to handle the money and try to keep the IRS away from it as much as possible.

Tonya nearly died in the hospital, but recovered. Her sister Kim’s husband Kelly was in some financial trouble (even though he made $150,000/year), and asked Tonya (while she was still in a wheelchair) if they could borrow $40,000 with the promise to pay back the money with interest in a year. The other trustees acquiesced to Tonya and gave the money. When I found out, I was livid and asked for the money back. Of course everyone said Kelly would pay back the money, and I was viewed as the bad guy for a time. Two years later, we had recovered $1000, and it was obvious that Kelly wasn’t going to pay the money back. So, Tonya asked me to sue Kelly (which I had threatened to do immediately when I found the money gone.)

Kelly tried to declare bankruptcy, and tried to keep his house, cars, and only dispose of the debt to the trust. At first the bankruptcy courts ruled that Kelly was abusing the bankruptcy laws, and charged him with abuse. It was looking good for us. However, Kelly went on a business trip to Arizona and decided to take a client on a high-speed motorcycle race track (on a Sunday.) He crashed at about 100 mph and really got messed up. He ended up staying in Arizona for about a month in the hospital. Following the wreck, he lost his job because he was too injured to work. So he re-filed his bankruptcy petition, and this time got off Scot-free. Adding insult to injury, the final bankruptcy ruling was on my brother’s birthday last year.

So today, I saw an astonishing message on Facebook from Tonya. She wrote, “I’m headed down to Georgia to be with my little sister Kim. Her husband Kelly passed away in his sleep Sunday… Arrrrgggg…Widowed at 35 with 4 kids… Unfortunately I know how she feels! Sometimes life just isn’t fair. ( keep her and her kids in your prayers )!!!!!!”

I’m just a bit stunned, and I have really mixed emotions.