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)?
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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.
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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.
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EP17 - Property With DUST
The Gordian Knot
A quick way to evaluate a property, even before your client’s own issues have been examined.
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EP16 - Irksome Squatters
The Gordian Knot
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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...
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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
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EP13 - PETITO Format
The Gordian Knot
Rick Harmon shares his time-tested method for organizing information about messy real estate cases
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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...
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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 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 when the case becomes too litigious. The first introduction to the case where they put together the plan is the most exciting time. Discovery tends to be the most costly part of the case but you will need to do some discovery to reach a resolution.
When working in trust and estate law in California, you end up seeing the same people all the time since most cases are consolidated into the primary courthouse, which can end up being an asset.
Do you get any cases that last a long time?
Some cases can take up quite a bit of time, but David likes those cases. He prefers to be in the trenches finding a resolution for his clients.
When it comes to the opposition, it’s hard to tell if a poor performance on a case is due to the level of competence of the attorney or because of the client. Trust and estate law is a complex area, and working with a personal injury lawyer should probably not be your first choice. You need someone with experience is this particular area of law.
Do you get into messy property matters?
All the time. David has seen plenty of wacky deeds, forgeries, and everything you could think of when it comes to title. Land and property in California can be extremely complicated, especially when you go back in history.
You have to bring on other people, you can’t be an expert in everything. David has a handful of other attorneys he trusts that he can bounce ideas off of for tricky legal puzzles. Very few title inspectors are left, it’s a dwindling skill and talent that you can’t find very often anymore.
A title company should be in a position to take on some risk for a client in order to facilitate a case and get it to a resolution. Rick has cases with missing pieces all the time and that means there is risk involved, but you do have to pick and choose the kinds of people you want to get involved with. There are a lot of bad stories in probate court and sometimes you can never be quite ready for certain cases, but it’s always nice to see cases that turn out well for the families involved.
Do you work with a lot of people outside the US?
Usually, there is a lawyer that works with David’s international clients that can represent them and get them to sign documents. Language can be tricky so it’s important to work with someone who can help you communicate with the client. Even with language barriers, David usually manages to find a satisfactory resolution for his clients.
Links To Resources Mentioned
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