EP20 - Black Swans
The Gordian Knot
Ever notice how clients with delicate trust or estate matters fail to tell the truth (or the whole truth)?
info_outline
EP19 - Cascading Estates
The Gordian Knot
When multiple generations of deceased owners interests have never been transferred, each interest MAY need to be probated and flow through to current heirs or beneficiaries.
info_outline
EP18 - Fractional Interests
The Gordian Knot
This is an introduction to the way we look at Fractional Ownership Interests and Solutions for those who receive no current benefits.
info_outline
EP17 - Property With DUST
The Gordian Knot
A quick way to evaluate a property, even before your client’s own issues have been examined.
info_outline
EP16 - Irksome Squatters
The Gordian Knot
info_outline
EP15 - 8 Properties, No Trustee
The Gordian Knot
Despite a pending property tax auction, these eight beach city properties had no living successor trustee or way to save them from loss, until...
info_outline
EP14 - What’s Bad is Good!
The Gordian Knot
How I stopped fearing and loathing California real estate title problems and came to appreciate liens and other problems
info_outline
EP13 - PETITO Format
The Gordian Knot
Rick Harmon shares his time-tested method for organizing information about messy real estate cases
info_outline
Barry Adams - California Devastation And Rebuilding
The Gordian Knot
Meet Barry Adams. Barry’s practice mainly focuses on probate and trust law and over the course of the podcast, Rick and Barry talk about some of Barry’s more tricky cases and his thoughts on that area of law in general. They also discuss the impact of the fires in California and how it is affecting the people in the region. What kind of cases do you typically encounter? Barry has been doing almost exclusively probate and trust work since 1993 so he’s had quite a bit of experience in that area. Since he’s in the middle of two major regions he gets a wide variety of cases but he often...
info_outline
David Shapiro - Tricky Puzzles and Messy Cases
The Gordian Knot
Meet David Shapiro. Rick and Dave discuss David’s trust and estate practice, tricky puzzles he’s encountered in the course of his business, and some of the more messy property cases he’s worked on. What does your practice look like? David’s practice is almost exclusively trust and estate litigation. He represents trustees and beneficiaries from all over the world. No matter what planning people will do, people will die and leave messes behind. As long as there are people around, Rick and David will always be in business. A lot of David’s cases come from other attorneys that refer him...
info_outlineMeet Scott Schomer. Rick and Scott talk about his very successful real estate practice and his experience over the last two and half decades working commercial real estate.
What does your typical practice look like?
Scott is a probate and trust specialist in addition to focusing on commercial real estate. When it comes to probate court, you’re often finding real estate so there is a lot of overlap between the two fields. Diminished capacity cases also come into play quite often and can be quite complicated.
Looking back into the past to forensically identify whether someone had diminished capacity can be very difficult. Medical evidence is the first place Scott looks when trying to prove diminished capacity because without decent medical evidence, there is often no case at all.
A cursory conversation with someone may not reveal anything obvious, you have to dig into their executive functions before you may notice a truly diminished capacity.
Scott relates a case where a man became so impaired by alcohol and drug dependency, he was convinced into refinancing a duplex he owned and giving the money to his tenant. Eventually, the tenant convinced the man to just give her the property and nothing was discovered until the man was in the hospital much later on.
What is considered undue influence on a senior?
The elderly standard statute is around 65 and most people dealing with undue influence are in their 70’s and 80’s. But that doesn’t mean you can’t also get people in their 50’s and 60’s.
Generally, the rule is it’s harder to challenge or attack lending transactions, so there is a fair amount abuse that goes on in those situations. Scott mainly deals with testamentary decisions, where a trust is amended or created. One of the very first things he looks for after medical evidence is looking at who was involved in the transaction. The minute Scott has any concerns about a client’s capacity, he contacts a professional and has the person assessed.
The concept of undue influence involves three elements: a confidential relationship, active participation, and undue benefit. If you can show all three elements in a transaction, the law presumes that is a void transaction.
Most of the problems that come up in estate planning can be avoided by always using an estate planner instead of creating ambiguity by writing up something yourself.
What do you wish you knew when you were getting started?
Get in the game and get in front of judges and clients as quickly as you can. Find somebody that will be a good mentor for you, one that will allow you to stretch your legs and try things out.
The nature of firms has changed. New lawyers don’t need to join a firm, they can get a lot of the same advantages by building a personal network.
What is your biggest strength?
Scott’s biggest strength is his ability to predict the outcome of most of his cases. When starting a case, Scott focuses on information gathering first, and then breaks it down into pieces. It’s important to not get overwhelmed by a case and to take it in small steps.
Links To Resources Mentioned
310-337-7696
Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and leave a 5-star rating and review on iTunes!