The request was renewed through appropriate legal channels, with a clear record of potential trust beneficiaries and unanswered accounting questions.

In the meantime, Nathaniel resigned from the trust’s investment committee.

The decision mattered.

He lost access to certain discretionary distributions and was no longer the favorite son presented at every charity luncheon as the family’s future.

He called me after the announcement.

“I never realized how much of my life was built on permission,” he said.

“I did,” I answered.

“I lived inside it for years.”