Title: The Inheritance Clause prompted by Michael Poole Genre: Legal Thriller / Family Drama Setting: Contemporary New York — shifting between a tight-knit Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn and the cold machinery of Manhattan's courtrooms and high-powered law firms. Logline: When three generations of a Jewish family are independently declared legally incapacitated and stripped of their financial autonomy, a junior public defender uncovers a sinister legal conspiracy exploiting vulnerable elders—and must race against time to expose the fraud before the entire family is institutionalized and their legacy destroyed. Main Characters: Sylvia Rosenbaum (Gran): 84 years old. Sharp-witted, tough, a Holocaust survivor, and matriarch of the Rosenbaum family. Still lives independently, but increasingly isolated. She’s targeted after a minor stroke. Naomi Rosenbaum (Mum): 54 years old. A university professor battling early signs of cognitive decline due to stress and trauma. Misdiagnosed and declared legally incompetent after a court hearing she wasn’t properly notified about. Daniel Rosenbaum (Son): 28 years old. Autistic, brilliant, lives semi-independently, and has a small tech consulting firm. His former guardian (a cousin) files paperwork to reinstate control over his assets after alleging he made a "risky" crypto investment. Rachel Stein: A Jewish public defender in her early 30s, burned out and underpaid, who stumbles into Sylvia’s case—and quickly realizes something far bigger is at play. Plot Summary: Act 1: The Setup Rachel is assigned Sylvia’s case after a court-appointed guardian freezes Sylvia’s accounts and moves to sell her rent-controlled apartment in Brooklyn. Sylvia insists she's fine—but court records show a doctor certified her "demented" after a ten-minute evaluation arranged by a lawyer she's never met. Meanwhile, Naomi is institutionalized under a temporary guardianship order after missing a court summons due to a mail error. Her assets—including a life insurance policy and two apartments—are being liquidated under court supervision. Daniel, independent but socially awkward, learns that his financial accounts are frozen. His cousin, with ties to a shady guardianship nonprofit, files a petition claiming Daniel is “financially reckless.” Rachel begins to see a pattern—three related people, all declared incapacitated, all their wealth routed through the same small law firm and court-appointed fiduciaries. Act 2: The Investigation Rachel dives into guardianship court, discovering a deeply flawed and corrupted system. She finds dozens of similar cases, mostly affecting elderly Jewish or immigrant families who are asset-rich and support-light. Many don’t survive the system. Daniel secretly hacks into court files and discovers falsified evaluations, fake witnesses, and judges rubber-stamping petitions without proper hearings. But using this evidence would be illegal—and dangerous. Rachel faces increasing pressure to drop the case: her office is threatened with funding cuts, and anonymous calls warn her she’s being watched. A judge she trusts quietly tells her this is a “closed circle” of legal predators. Sylvia, now forcibly placed in an "assisted living facility," begins recording conversations and smuggling out letters through a janitor. Act 3: The Turn Rachel teams up with an investigative journalist at The Forward who starts digging into the guardianship racket. They find the firm behind it all is funneling estate sales into shell companies and laundering money through legal trusts. A courageous probate judge agrees to reopen the Rosenbaum cases—but the firm counters by alleging Rachel has a conflict of interest due to her Jewish heritage and “emotional involvement.” Meanwhile, Naomi escapes the psychiatric facility using knowledge from her research on institutional abuses, and hides with a friend from synagogue. Daniel releases the hacked data anonymously to a whistleblower site, igniting public outrage. Act 4: The Confrontation In a tense courtroom climax, Rachel fights to reinstate Sylvia, Naomi, and Daniel’s rights, while exposing the legal abuse network. The judge rules in their favor—but warns Rachel that systemic change will take more than one case. Sylvia regains her home. Naomi returns to her professorship, becoming an advocate for reform. Daniel founds a nonprofit watchdog for guardianship abuse. Rachel is offered a lucrative law firm job but turns it down to keep fighting for those no one else will. Themes: The fragility of legal personhood Elder exploitation through the courts The weaponization of mental health Cultural resilience and generational trauma in Jewish families The quiet strength of community