2019年6月15日星期六

My Husband’s Will Pits Me Against Our Daughter. What Can I Do?

Is there a way?

View in Browser | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book.

Saturday, June 15, 2019

NYTimes.com »

My Husband's Will Pits Me Against Our Daughter. What Can I Do?

By KWAME ANTHONY APPIAH

Illustration by Tomi Um

"My husband and I have been together for many years and have a teenage daughter; he also has a daughter from a prior relationship, who is a grown woman. He is a wonderful father to both. He has covered all my stepdaughter's expenses from childhood, and her education, including living expenses and vacations. We are not rich but have a good income. He is the main breadwinner. I have no assets or savings myself.

Our house was his property when we met, and it remains his main asset. His will stipulates that I can live in the house until my own death if he dies first, but only his daughters actually inherit it. I hope my husband will live another 100 years, but should he die tomorrow, our daughter would have to sell her half of the house to afford the excellent, carefree education her sister is still receiving. My pension would be insufficient, and I wouldn't be able to find a job that would allow me to support her.

In addition, selling the house to provide for our daughter's education would leave me homeless. When I try to discuss this with my husband, he gets extremely angry. He has even said that for our daughter to have to sell her part of the house would be O.K. I disagree. I would like to create a trust fund or something similar so that if anything happens to him before our daughter reaches full independence, she can have an excellent education while preserving her inheritance. Am I missing something, or would this be the fair thing to do?"

Read the Ethicist's reply here.

What Abortion Access Looks Like in Mississippi: One Person at a Time

Bethany Mollenkof for The New York Times

By ZOË BEERY

With state legislatures passing new abortion restrictions, the Mississippi Reproductive Freedom Fund follows its own compass on how to best help clients.

How to Make Perfect Sweet Potatoes Every Time

Bobby Doherty for The New York Times.

By SAMIN NOSRAT

In which a longtime boiler and roaster becomes a steaming evangelist.

COVER STORY

The Day the Music Burned

By JODY ROSEN

It was the biggest disaster in the history of the music business — and almost nobody knew. This is the story of the 2008 Universal fire.

Mallory Pugh during a match against Belgium on April 7.

Dina Litovsky/Redux, for The New York Times

Feature

The Best Women's Soccer Team in the World Fights for Equal Pay

By LIZZY GOODMAN

As the U.S. women's national soccer team defends its World Cup title in France, its members are preparing for a courtroom battle.

Mamadi Doumbouya for The New York Times

Talk

Mindy Kaling on Not Being the Long-Suffering Indian Woman

By DAVID MARCHESE

"I always had so much impatience and ambition — these things that if you had them, you were supposed to have them secretly."

Photo illustration by Mike McQuade

Screenland

When Britney Spears Posts on Instagram, a Thousand Conspiracies Flower

By CAITY WEAVER

Her account reveals how mysterious "authentic" selves have become on social media.

Stay in touch:

Appreciated this email? Forward it to a friend and help us grow.

Loved a story? Hated it? Write us a letter at magazine@nytimes.com.

Did a friend forward this to you? Sign up here to get the magazine newsletter.

Check us out on Instagram, where you'll find photography from our archives, behind-the-scenes snippets from photo shoots, interviews on how we design our covers and outtakes that don't make it into the issue.

We've got more newsletters! You might like At War.

Learn more about the experiences and costs of war. Sign up for the At War newsletter to receive stories about conflict from Times reporters and outside voices.