My Mom Locked Me Out of My $1.8M Lake House as I Gave Birth — The Sheriff Froze Reading the Deed — Transcript

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1. 0:01Three days after I gave birth, my mother
2. 0:03changed the locks on my $1.8 million
3. 0:06lake house.
4. 0:08My husband waited in the driveway with
5. 0:10our newborn in her car seat while the
6. 0:12county sheriff read the property deed.
7. 0:14My mother shouted through the door that
8. 0:16the house belonged to real family. My
9. 0:19sister added that I should go to a
10. 0:20motel.
11. 0:21A chain and a padlock held the handles
12. 0:24shut. I still wore my hospital wrist
13. 0:26band.
14. 0:27The sheriff read the deed twice, looked
15. 0:29at my mother through the window and
16. 0:31said, "Ma'am, the name on this page is
17. 0:35My name is Inez Callaway and I am 33
18. 0:38years old.
19. 0:39I inspect boats for marine insurance
20. 0:41companies, so I spend my days on docks
21. 0:44with a flashlight and a moisture meter
22. 0:46telling owners what their hulls are
23. 0:47worth.
24. 0:49I learned the work from my father,
25. 0:50Walter Callaway.
26. 0:52He built wooden boats at a small yard on
27. 0:54Pine Hollow Lake in Hallett County and
28. 0:57in 1998, he built a house on the shore
29. 1:00with a wrap-around porch and a gravel
30. 1:01driveway that took him one whole summer
31. 1:04to grade.
32. 1:05My own mother died when I was five.
33. 1:08Walter married Colleen Dunn when I was
34. 1:10nine and I started calling her mom that
35. 1:12first winter.
36. 1:14She brought a daughter, Piper, who was 3
37. 1:16years older than me.
38. 1:18Walter died 6 years ago.
39. 1:20One year before that, he sat me down at
40. 1:23his kitchen table and slid a folder
41. 1:25across it.
42. 1:26Inside was a deed to the lake house
43. 1:28already recorded at the county register
44. 1:30of deeds with my name on it.
45. 1:33He said Piper had a habit of borrowing
46. 1:35money, that Colleen had a habit of
47. 1:37signing for her, and that this would
48. 1:39keep the house out of reach.
49. 1:41He told me Colleen understood.
50. 1:44I took him at his word and never read
51. 1:46past my own name.
52. 1:48Colleen stayed in the house and after
53. 1:50Piper's wedding venue business folded,
54. 1:52Piper moved into the back bedroom.
55. 1:55I never asked either of them for rent. I
56. 1:57paid the property tax, the insurance,
57. 2:00and the utilities myself through an
58. 2:02automatic utility transfer from my own
59. 2:04account because I did not want my mother
60. 2:06counting dollars at 64. I kept every
61. 2:10property tax receipt, mostly because I
62. 2:12keep every receipt.
63. 2:14In August, a month before my due date,
64. 2:17my husband Theo and I told Colleen we
65. 2:19planned to move to the lake house in
66. 2:20October. Theo's job had gone remote, and
67. 2:24our city apartment was too small for a
68. 2:26baby. I offered her the boat house
69. 2:28apartment and told her she could stay as
70. 2:30long as she liked. She set down her
71. 2:32coffee cup and said, "We'll talk after
72. 2:35the baby comes."
73. 2:36I took that as a yes. My contractions
74. 2:39started at 2:00 in the morning on a
75. 2:41Tuesday. They came 8 minutes apart, then
76. 2:436, and Theo had my overnight bag in the
77. 2:46car before I found my second shoe. We
78. 2:49reached the labor and delivery ward at
79. 2:50St. Bridget's Hospital a little after
80. 2:523:00. Our daughter, June, was born at 12
81. 2:56minutes past 9:00 that morning, 7 lb
82. 2:59even with a full head of dark hair. I
83. 3:02called my mother from the recovery bed.
84. 3:04It went to voicemail. That evening, she
85. 3:06sent one text. "Congratulations. We'll
86. 3:09talk when you're home." Theo called her,
87. 3:11too, once on Wednesday and once on
88. 3:14Thursday. Both calls went to voicemail.
89. 3:17Piper sent nothing. Hospital discharge
90. 3:20came Friday morning. A nurse checked the
91. 3:22straps on our infant car seat and tested
92. 3:24the buckle twice. We turned onto the
93. 3:26gravel driveway a little before noon.
94. 3:29Colleen's sedan sat in front of the
95. 3:30garage, and Piper's SUV sat beside it.
96. 3:34Theo parked in the shade and stayed with
97. 3:36June. It was 68° he had the windows
98. 3:39cracked, and she was asleep. I climbed
99. 3:41the porch steps and typed my code into
100. 3:44the digital keypad deadbolt. The light
101. 3:46blinked red. I typed it again, slower.
102. 3:49Red again. My key would not turn the
103. 3:52lock below it. A chain ran through both
104. 3:55door handles closed with a brass padlock
105. 3:58I had never seen before. I knocked, rang
106. 4:00the bell, and waited. A curtain moved in
107. 4:03the front window. "Mom, it's Inez." I
108. 4:06said. "The code stopped working." "I
109. 4:09changed it." Colleen said. "I just came
110. 4:11home from the hospital. This house
111. 4:13belongs to real family." I stood there
112. 4:16with a plastic wristband on my arm and
113. 4:18tried to make that sentence mean
114. 4:20something else. For 24 years, she had
115. 4:23signed my birthday cards, Mom. The front
116. 4:26window slid open 2 in.
117. 4:29Piper's voice came through it. "Go to a
118. 4:31motel, Inez." The window closed. I kept
119. 4:35my voice level, looked up at the small
120. 4:37black lens of the doorbell I had
121. 4:38installed myself 4 years earlier, and
122. 4:41took out my phone. The doorbell camera
123. 4:43sent every clip to my phone. I had muted
124. 4:46the alerts months earlier because deer
125. 4:48kept setting it off. I scrolled back to
126. 4:50Tuesday. At 20 minutes to 10, while I
127. 4:53was still in the labor and delivery
128. 4:54ward, a white van from Pell Commercial
129. 4:57Locksmith had pulled into the driveway.
130. 4:59A technician worked on the keypad for 40
131. 5:01minutes and changed the access code.
132. 5:04Piper stood beside him with a clipboard,
133. 5:06and before he left, she signed his work
134. 5:08order and pointed at the house. Colleen
135. 5:10watched from the doorway with her arms
136. 5:12folded. I watched that doorbell camera
137. 5:14footage twice from the porch steps,
138. 5:17saved it, and sent a copy to Theo and to
139. 5:19myself. Then, I made two calls. The
140. 5:23first went to Maribel Austerander, the
141. 5:25real estate attorney who inherited my
142. 5:27father's files when he retired. She
143. 5:30asked who was on the recorded deed, who
144. 5:32paid the taxes, and whether anyone had
145. 5:34ever paid rent. I told her yes, yes, and
146. 5:38no. She said to stop talking to my
147. 5:41family through the door and to send her
148. 5:43every record I had. She He drive to the
149. 5:45county register of deeds before it
150. 5:47closed, pick up a certified warranty
151. 5:49deed, and file for an emergency writ of
152. 5:52possession. The second call went to the
153. 5:54sheriff's non-emergency line. Nobody was
154. 5:57hurt, so I did not use 911. I gave the
155. 6:00dispatcher the address and told her my
156. 6:02mother had locked the owner out of the
157. 6:04house. 20 minutes later, a patrol
158. 6:07cruiser rolled up the gravel behind
159. 6:08Theo's car. Sheriff Ray Toliver stepped
160. 6:11out. Hallett County has 11 deputies for
161. 6:14a lake community, and he handles a lot
162. 6:17of porch disputes himself. He talked to
163. 6:19Colleen through the door for 10 minutes.
164. 6:22She told him she had lived in that house
165. 6:24for 24 years, and no one could remove
166. 6:26her. He told her he could not take a
167. 6:28side without paper.
168. 6:30Theo drove June to the diner on Main
169. 6:32Street to feed her and came back with
170. 6:34coffee. While we waited, I sent Maribel
171. 6:37the rest. Seven years of property tax
172. 6:40receipts, every one in my name, and the
173. 6:43bank record of the automatic transfer
174. 6:45that had paid the electric and water
175. 6:46bills from my account every month since
176. 6:49my father handed me that folder.
177. 6:51At 2:00, Maribel texted that she was 10
178. 6:54minutes out. Maribel's gray sedan came
179. 6:56up the driveway at 10:02.
180. 6:59She walked past me to the sheriff with a
181. 7:01manila folder and handed him the
182. 7:03certified warranty deed, stamped that
183. 7:05afternoon by the county register of
184. 7:07deeds. Colleen had opened the front
185. 7:09window by then. Piper stood behind her.
186. 7:12Sheriff Toliver read the first page,
187. 7:15then turned it over. He read the grantee
188. 7:17of record, then the lines at the bottom,
189. 7:19and he went quiet. Nobody on the porch
190. 7:22spoke.
191. 7:23"Ma'am," he said to my mother,
192. 7:26"the name on this page is yours."
193. 7:28The deed listed two grantors, Walter
194. 7:31Callaway and Colleen Dunn Callaway,
195. 7:34husband and wife. Both signatures sat at
196. 7:37the bottom, notarized seven years
197. 7:39earlier.
198. 7:40The grantee of record was Inez Marie
199. 7:43Callaway. Colleen had signed away every
200. 7:46claim to the house in her own
201. 7:48handwriting.
202. 7:49Piper turned around. "Mom, you told me
203. 7:52Walter left you this house." Colleen
204. 7:55said, "He left me a place to live. He
205. 7:57said that was the same thing." "Did you
206. 7:59sign this, ma'am?" the sheriff asked.
207. 8:02"Walter said it was for the taxes." "It
208. 8:05says warranty deed across the top, Mrs.
209. 8:07Callaway." She did not answer him. Piper
210. 8:10looked at her mother for a long time
211. 8:12then walked back into the house to pack.
212. 8:15At 20 minutes to 3:00, Maribel's phone
213. 8:18buzzed. Judge Ellen Okafor had signed
214. 8:21the emergency writ of possession and a
215. 8:23court clerk had emailed it over. Maribel
216. 8:25handed it to the sheriff. He gave
217. 8:28Colleen and Piper a 15-minute escort. A
218. 8:31deputy walked through the house with
219. 8:32each of them while they collected
220. 8:34medications, identification, phones, and
221. 8:36a bag of clothes. Anything else they
222. 8:39could arrange through Maribel's office.
223. 8:41Colleen came out carrying her purse and
224. 8:44a framed photo of Walter on the boat
225. 8:46yard dock. She did not look at me. Piper
226. 8:49carried a duffel bag and said nothing.
227. 8:52Garrett Pell, the owner of the locksmith
228. 8:54company, had driven out after Maribel
229. 8:56called him. He said Piper had signed his
230. 8:59work order as the owner and the deed
231. 9:01said she was not. He cut the padlock,
232. 9:03reset the keypad to a code I chose, and
233. 9:06tore up the invoice. Before they left,
234. 9:09the sheriff handed each of them a
235. 9:10written criminal trespass warning. If
236. 9:13either one set foot on the property
237. 9:15without my written permission, they
238. 9:17would be arrested. I carried June
239. 9:19through the front door at 5:05 p.m.
240. 9:22I learned the rest over the next few
241. 9:24weeks. Piper had pushed her mother into
242. 9:27the lockout because she owed $187,000
243. 9:31to a private lender and she had listed
244. 9:33the lake house on the application as
245. 9:35property her mother would inherit. When
246. 9:37the lender pulled the recorded deed, it
247. 9:39found my name and called the loan due.
248. 9:42Piper sold her pontoon boat and moved in
249. 9:44with a friend in Fenwick. She did not
250. 9:46speak to our mother for a month.
251. 9:49I asked the county not to file charges.
252. 9:52The trespass warning stays on record
253. 9:54with the sheriff, and I decided that was
254. 9:56enough. Theo and I moved in on the first
255. 9:59Saturday of October as planned. In the
256. 10:01same week, Pell Commercial Locksmith
257. 10:04mailed me a card with an apology and a
258. 10:06free year of keypad battery changes.
259. 10:09Colleen rented a two-bedroom apartment
260. 10:11above a hardware store in town.
261. 10:13Three weeks after the lockout, a letter
262. 10:15came, three handwritten pages. She wrote
263. 10:19that she had known exactly what she
264. 10:21signed. Walter told her at the lawyer's
265. 10:23office that the house would be mine and
266. 10:25that she could stay as long as I
267. 10:27allowed, and she spent seven years
268. 10:29telling herself he would change his
269. 10:31mind. When I said we were moving in, she
270. 10:33panicked. She could not picture herself
271. 10:36as a guest in a kitchen where she had
272. 10:38cooked for 24 years.
273. 10:40She also wrote that she had lied to
274. 10:42Piper and that she had been too ashamed
275. 10:44to tell her the truth.
276. 10:46I read it twice on the porch. I did not
277. 10:49forgive her that afternoon.
278. 10:51I wrote back one line.
279. 10:53Sunday dinner at the lake, if you want
280. 10:55it.
281. 10:56My father knew what a promise is worth
282. 10:58without a signature, and he gave up one
283. 11:01afternoon at a lawyer's office so that I
284. 11:03would never have to find out.
285. 11:05I put things in writing now, including
286. 11:08the kind ones. Colleen comes every
287. 11:10Sunday with a rhubarb pie. The keypad
288. 11:13code is the date June was born, and my
289. 11:15mother does not have it. She rings the
290. 11:18bell and waits for me to open the door.