A HILL OF BEANS...
Most of the time I can separate myself from my job. There’s so much more to life than what one does for a living. Other times, I can’t resist thinking like an attorney – it’s an automatic tug back into my professional reality usually brought about by a situation where I see a problem that needs solving or a problem that will arise because someone doesn’t foresee consequences of their actions – or inaction.
Philosopher Jose Ortega y Gasset once posited that, “law is born from despair of human nature.” I believe his assessment of our essence was spot on. A significant portion of my practice exists because it’s human nature to put off today what can be kicked down the road for years and years – or never addressed at all.
Have you ever heard the saying, “better the devil you know than the devil you don’t know?” ‘Better the devil you know’ is said to mean that folks tend to believe or prefer to deal with someone they already know than to deal with someone they don’t know. A form of this comes out in my conversations with folks who hold to the beliefs of what others have told them about the law, estate planning, their property and how it passes on. By others I mean their brother-in-law, the man down the street, a radio personality, or day-trading financial genius of an adult nephew who still lives in his mother’s basement. See a trend here?
I’ve sat across the desk from many a folk who have willingly suffered under the mistaken belief that what they’ve been told must be true, despite the law or any evidence the person delivering the advice knew anything they were talking about. Sometimes I really have to work hard to make them understand that the bad advice they’ve received can have devastating consequences. But that’s part of my job – to tell the truth and give my clients the right information so they can make the right decisions for themselves and their families.
Bad advice or inaction can have such a terrible impact on a person and their family. This is where my attorney brain kicks in and wants to solve a problem or at least give adequate warning of the pitfalls of going down the wrong path – or doing nothing – when it comes to a plan for you and your family.
What your Mom wanted, or your Spouse said mean little if they’re not recorded and memorialized in the right way. I get that a lot – someone sitting before me, having just recently lost someone and the conversation turns to what their loved one wanted, what they said. In the absence of having their wishes put in the proper legal framework – concise and enforceable – it amounts to a hill of beans because the laws around the administration of estates matter. We rely on laws; they exist for a purpose. And there are those of us who exist to cipher such laws for our clients, to use them to serve our clients and make sure their wishes are honored and administered.
Leveraging the law for your purpose, is my purpose. I want the law on your side and not imposed on your estate because your plan never existed or was created in error. If I can help in any way. I’m here.
