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 Marivel Zialcita and enjoy this discussion about her Claremont California based trust, estate, and elder law practice center, her extensive involvement in community service, and how she approaches new clients with property issues.
Tell us a little bit about your practice and your clients.
Marivel has been practicing for over 15 years. She always enjoyed working with and helping the senior community. When she went out on her own a few years ago, she began practicing with special needs clients and asset protection planning for seniors. Her typical clients include family businesses, probate clients that have had a loss in the family, and seniors.
Marivel gets a lot of clients going through probate that have trouble maintaining the properties in probate and their own mortgages. She usually has to work quickly to get injunctive relief for the clients to get some breathing room and time to sell the property. They can often be wild rides with a lot of work and lot of parties involved.
Where do your special needs clients come from?
Marivel’s special needs clients typically come from other attorneys that have represented them, or they are often the parents of special needs children that want to protect their children and leave funds behind so they are taken care of.
Guardianships are for minors, conservatorships are for adults, and both can involve real property. Marivel works with the court to make sure that the fiduciary duties are being taken care of in those cases. When working with professional fiduciaries, it always good to be in contact with their representation and understand what kind of court orders are involved in the case.
How have the judges and the bench been treating you?
There are only a few probate courts in Marivel’s area so she really gets to know the court officers in each one. They tend to be very collaborative since they involve the outcomes of families. As long as you are doing your job well, the court will respect you and what you are trying to do.
Video conferencing is becoming more common but a lot of courts haven’t made a lot of use of the technology yet.
Did you have a natural attraction to your area of law?
When Marivel was five years old she knew she was going to be an attorney, she just didn’t know what area of law. All throughout college and high school, she worked in various law firms in various capacities. This gave her the experience she needed to start her own firm later on. She naturally gravitated towards trust and estate law. Her motto is “Your life, your legacy.”
A lot of the attorneys that she resonated with have had similar stories of knowing early on what they wanted to be and do.
What is the most important thing when you’re looking at a new case?
The first thing Marivel does is spend time with the client and let them do the talking. She recognized early on that sometimes the client just needs to be heard. She usually does an intake form after the initial meeting, and then she begins digging into the bones of the matter.
She always asks what they want at the end of the first meeting. This allows her to manage their expectations and let them know how the case could potentially go. From there, it’s just a matter of servicing the client.
What is your biggest strength that surprises your clients?
Marivel is 4”11’, looks young, and she doesn’t speak unless necessary most of the time, so when she becomes aggressive and adversarial to fight for a client people don’t really expect it.
What do you wish you knew as a young attorney?
Don’t take it personally. When your client is upset or the opposing counsel isn’t playing well, it’s not about you. But it’s these kinds of experiences that give you the tough skin you need to succeed.
What gets you up in the morning on a Monday?
Mondays are a great day, they are a chance for Marivel to help her clients through some very tough times in their life and she’s up to the challenge.
Links To Resources Mentioned
909-256-6702
Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and leave a 5-star rating and review in iTunes!