Chapter 7 - The Confrontation in Court
The courthouse was cold and imposing.
Richard sat at the plaintiff's table, looking older and more pathetic than he had at the party, yet his eyes still held that arrogant, smug satisfaction. Marcus Sterling sat next to him, looking immaculate in a $3,000 suit, shuffling papers with practiced ease.
David sat in the gallery behind me, holding my hand until the judge, Honorable Beatrice Vance (no relation, luckily), took the bench.
"Case number 442-A, Richard Vance versus Maya Sterling-Webb," the bailiff announced.
Marcus Sterling stood up first. "Your Honor, this is a tragic case of a wealthy, successful woman who has turned her back on her ailing, impoverished father. My client, Mr. Vance, is sixty-eight years old, suffering from severe chronic health conditions, and living on a meager social security check. Meanwhile, his daughter lives in a million-dollar home and runs a lucrative business. We ask for a temporary support order of $4,000 a month."
Judge Vance looked over her glasses at me. "Does the defense wish to respond?"
Sarah stood up, perfectly calm. "Your Honor, we do. And we request an immediate dismissal of the plaintiff's petition, with prejudice, on the grounds of total and absolute parental abandonment."
Sterling laughed softly. "Your Honor, my client simply fell on hard times and had to send his daughter to live with a relative temporarily. That is not legal abandonment."
"Is that so?" Sarah countered. "I’d like to submit Defense Exhibit A."
Sarah walked over to the clerk and handed over a copy of the abandonment letter. A copy was also handed to Sterling.
As Sterling read the letter, his smug expression began to falter. Richard leaned over to look at it, and I watched the color drain from his face.
"This letter," Sarah stated clearly, "written in the plaintiff's own hand, explicitly states that he was abandoning his fifteen-year-old daughter because she 'reminded him too much of her mother,' and instructed her aunt never to contact him for support. He did not provide a single cent of care for the next twenty years. Under state law, a parent who willfully abandons a child under the age of eighteen forfeits all future rights to filial support."
The judge read the letter, her expression turning icy. She looked down at Richard. "Mr. Sterling, does your client deny writing this?"
May you like
Sterling whispered furiously to Richard, who was now sweating profusely. "Your Honor," Sterling stammered, "even if... even if there was a period of estrangement, my client was in financial distress—"
"We are not finished, Your Honor," Sarah interrupted smoothly. "We would also like to submit Defense Exhibit B."
