Non Electric Homestead McMinn County (deal, tree, building)

[Cecilia_Rose]

Oh Hon. Im so sorry to hear things are not going well. I stopped by to catch up and here you are going to Heck in a handbasket. I cant believe he ruined your Christmas. I cant help but wonder if Hazel knew and thats why she made sure she was someplace else.

I may be wrong but I think Ive met Hazels type before. I think Hazel is one of those women who have always expected other people to take care of them. Especially men. Your friend is gone and shes auditioning Bob as her new protector. Bob sounds like an azz but you dont know what strings shes pulling behind the scenes. I think shes counting on him getting the blame if things go South. It was all his doing. Im just a frail helpless little old woman.

Personally I think an anonymous source needs to let that newpaper lady know whats going on. Shady doings need to exposed to the light.

Good luck to you. I hope everything turns out okay in the end.

[Hawk J]

unfortunately it's true........not all humans are good


I love You Forest Breath & Family......................God Bless You


Be Safe Take Care...................

[hiknapster]

I've met this type, too. Have more than a few in my family.

What really bothers me is, hey, maybe she wasn't really that "into" the sale when her husband, your friend, was alive, and that is fine, but she proceeded to take all the free help she could from you. Maybe she could say that you were on "her" land and she felt intimidated and willing to go along. Fine.

But what REALLY fries me is when you take your day off to drag her to her sister. She sounds like a real opportunist. Like I said, I know a few of those. I felt the same way as you. At this point you have all this money, blood and sweat involved.

What I found is things will only get worse and you will not win. If you want to go back to civil court in the long run, do it, but I would start making serious plans for another route.

You think you have all these wonderful memories tied up over there, but memories are portable, things are just that, and better things with less baggage are around the corner. Trust me.

[Forest Breath]

Things have gotten worse and we are looking for another home. We are hoping we do not have to rent right away and will find something to purchase. My daughter, who helped build the home, will be going in with me on somehting that is suitable for us. She wants to put a new doublewide or modular on the land and I just need a shack to sleep in, my 8 cats, 2 dogs and hopefully the chickens.

I cannot go into major detail but Hazel sent a letter to her attorney, who only forwarded it to my attorney after a phone call was made to remind him Hazel was out of time to make her decision. The letter was cruel, just horrible things in it. It was obvious that Bob wrote the letter so it was not Hazel's words, but she read it and signed her name to it and it hurt, more than anything in this entire situtation. There were a lot of lies and false accusations, the worst and the one that hurt the most was that we contributed to Jimmy's death by letting him help build our home. She constantly referred to Chris as my "live-in boyfriend" and said we did not keep our word and take care of Jimmy because he died in the care of nurses not under our care.

So we have made the offer for her to buy us out at a very low price and give us time to move. In her letter she referred to us as tenants and gave us 30 days to move. Where do you move a farm to in 30 days when at this point the rain has washed the culverts out and flooded the lower field, we cannot drive up to the house and have to walk through the water to the car at 6am each morning. But we have started looking for something. If she agrees to buy us out, I will lose about $7000.00 and my home. But it will give us a tiny bit to at least find another place to live. Not even enough for a down payment though. And Bob plans to use our home for a horse barn. Oh and she wants a legal witness there when we move so we won't destroy Bob's barn. In the letter she admits there was a verbal agreement regarding the farm but papers will never finished and she does not want us there now. Meanwhile Bob sent my attorney a 3 page letter threatening to sue me for slander because I told him in front og the police officer that he never showed up at that place until Jimmy was dying and that he was preying on a widow to take her land. Oh and Hazel said in her letter that what she pays me will be minus the work Jimmy did on the house AND minus the work his brother did, who was pretty upset when he found out she said that in the letter because we are still very good friends with him. And she is also charging for storage for the insulation in Jimmy's workshop, electricity for the freezer in the workshop (even though they begged me to put it there and I said I would only do it if I paid part of the bill and they refused so I said I would only do it IF they would help themselves to any meat or veggies in the freezer, which they did and she continues to do).

So anyway, it looks like the homestead is over, the dream is over. It is pretty ironic, we sold every single electric thing we owned. I gave away every electric heirloom I owned. Now we go back to "civilization" with oil lamps and a broken spirit.

I will continue to post updates until we are settled in our new home and then I will let everyone know when I will stop posting in this thread. It can then die like our dreams. I know I sound bitter and I am. I am so hurt. We have given up so much for her ands he signed a letter accusing me in having a hand in killing her husband, a man I looked at as the only Father figure I had, a man I loved so dearly. I know the words were Bob's but she is allowing this to happen and signed her name to the lies and hurtful accusations. Chris has broken down terribly a few times and just this morning I was walking to the car and it just hit me very hard and I spent 15 minutes on the frozen ground sobbing before I was able to get up and continue walking across the land that just 8 months ago....we bought and built dreams on.

So that is it for now, I will not know until later next week if she accepts my buy out offer. If she does not, we have no choice but to try to go to court to get some of our money back, but the legal fees have drained me dry, I am going to have to get a loan to pay more to the attorney just to get this all settled legally. So...

I am going to try to hold my head up and find reasons to smile. I don't need pity, it was all my fault for being so slack in legal issues. If prayers go out, send them to Hazel. Me and Chris will fight through our tears and be fine, she has a lonely, guilty road to walk right now.

[dgfurman]

I have read through your story and I sympathize with your situation. We had something similar happen in our family, when my grandmother's attorney (unbeknownst to us) was able to totally mess up my grandmother's will. Long story short, 3 years and many court battles after my grandmother's death, we (the family) have won our suit against this scheister. However, now he has appealed. And the case drags on and on.

This year will be 4 yrs. since her death, and most of the inheritance that we as a family had been promised, will be eaten away by attornies' fees. On the bright side, at least the scheister lawyer won't be getting his mitts on any of the $ (which is what he expected).

My grandmother was 96 when she passed, and very bright and astute. It amazes all of us how she could have made some very unwise decisions through the "advice" of her attorney, whom she considered a "friend". All I have to say is that, unfortunately, there are ALWAYS people out there that will take advantage of a situation, esp. if there is an elderly widow with some cash involved.

I would recommend to anyone reading all this that if you have good relationships with your family members, that you show each other your wills, documents, etc. before anything happens. Once they're deceased, then the surprises come out, and they're very hard to change. In our case, our grandma, who had told each one of us individually her intentions, allowed the attorney to write the will so that HE had control of the distribution. And guess what he wanted to do?

We have learned a lot as a family, and we've all gotten closer as a result. But we also have learned the value of legal documentation, and have shared our information, so that in the future, there are no such ugly surprises.

Good luck on your fight, ForestBreath! I hope that even if you have to leave this land that you have come to love, that at least you will get compensated for it, so that you can start new somewhere else. I can't imagine you'd want to stay there now living on land where someone has gone from beloved mother figure to evil witch anyway. Imagine having to cross paths every day.

Hazel is obviously easily manipulated, and it's sad, but you have to try to not take it so personally, and just deal with it in a legal sense. She is no longer the same Hazel that you knew and loved. The old Hazel is gone, and the new one is out to get you. So don't let her! At least get your $ back that you've put in, and find a good place you can call home.

[marmac]

Sadly, cases like this are being played out all across America and it usually involves land and many times it even is trusted family members who turn on each other.

I strongly advize people to get everything in writing and make sure it is legal.

People, even family members, can change their attitudes and reverse their decisions "on a dime" and care not for the lives they ruined or the mental anguish they caused others.

[kygman]

Would a deposition from Jimmy's brother about all that he knows about it do any good? And I have another suggestion on the house...IF you can find some land and can afford this suggestion. Your house has no wiring going to it and no pipes or plumbing or anything connecting it to the ground does it? Of course the ground would have to be dry enough but could you just have the house picked up and moved? I've seen whole houses picked up and moved across town. There is a show on TV now on HGTV showing houses being moved anywhere up to 100 miles away and set up again. And that's with all the wiring and plumbing undone and hooked back up. Just thought I'd add a little something to think about. Leave the outhouse though. Tell Bob you don't want it because the aroma reminds you of him! lol

[Shenandoah]

My prayers go out for you and Chris, and for Hazel.

Forest Breath, this chronicle, here on City-Data.com can be used legally, as a diary, and can be used to fight. Print out your chronicle, and give it to your attorney.

I was really hoping that your story would be shown on HGTV, about building your dream home. I just went to their website, to the Contact Us page, and posted the link to this chronicle. I told them how fascinating, spellbinding, funny, full of wonder and joy, to bring you to tears that your true story is. I am hoping they contact you. I would like to encourage others on here to contact HGTV and tell them about you, just make sure you use the link to the first page of your chronicle. HGTV's Contact Us page: http://www.hgtv.com/contact-us/package/index.html

Forest Breath - use this story that you've posted here - print it out, and send it to a magazine - your story itself is spellbinding and - Hey - make some money out of the story itself!

You make me proud to be an American, Forest Breath. We find strength and opportunity in adversity, not defeat.

I've got high hopes for you and Chris. Please, keep us updated. Far better times are ahead for you!

God bless you and yours, Shenandoah

[Hawk J]

My heart aches for you sister forest & family. This makes me feel ill


Take Care........................Grizz

[GatorTrout]

After reading this tale I've decided to avoid preachers and lawyers.