Greg McIntyre: Hi, I’m Greg McIntyre with the Elder Law Report. We’re going to talk about litigation and
conquering your fears today. They are very similar and the litigation that we do surrounds Probate. Estates,Trusts.
Greg McIntyre: You know, people taking money out of others, bank accounts, things like that insurance
beneficiary, fraud. You know, we do a full gamut of litigation real property issues.
Brenton Begley: Reality.
Greg McIntyre: We do run a gamut sometimes domestic issues related to estate planning, and elder
law. You know, we run the gamut with our litigation in that area in our area,…
Greg McIntyre: which is the state planning and elder law. I handle those cases Brenton Begley handles a
a lot of those cases as well and has a big caseload with litigation.
Greg McIntyre: Brenton, what kind of litigation do you handle? How does that coincide with conquering our fears
or facing our fears really digging in right and pushing through that understanding of it? How does that help your clients?
Brenton Begley: Yeah, I handle a bunch of different issues regarding Litigation Litigation, It’s all about
bringing a matter before the court and having the court decided whether it’s a judge or a jury, the
outcome, a lot of times you settled beforehand, but if you’re not aware of litigation is, that’s
what it is. I think that I’ve found about litigation to really explain it to people as to what we do as
attorneys, is you bring us an incredibly complex problem that may not have a clear solution. and it takes
into the case digging in and finding that solution, you know, on the outside. You know, if
especially maybe your neighbor, your family, you might have some type of legal issue and it seems
to go one or, you know, one of two ways when you explain that to a lay person, either they say, Oh
yeah, you know, your rights have been violated. You need to sue or, you know, you don’t have a case here.
There’s no way that I can see that a lawyer could help you and when in fact it’s much more nuanced and a lot of times people bring us legal problems and they think they have a clear slammed up case, but you
know, you have to show them. Hey, there is a lot more here that you don’t see. And a lot of people
have some sort of issue that lay in front of you, they can’t see any way out of. And it’s our job to make
something happen, by the way, not only with regard to litigation, but also with regard to other things we
do, like, helping people get benefits to pay for long-term care and protect me in your assets. A lot of times
you might not see a way out a way to make that happen. A lot of times people think, Oh, I have too much
money. Can’t qualify for these benefits but you sit down with an experience attorney and what our job is
going to be is to figure something out. So that being said, you know, when it comes to litigation it is a very complex chess game and it teaches you a lot about life, how to live your life because litigation is very serious. It makes you have to really dig in and focus and it’s a good microcosm for life as
well. Because it can be very scary,…
Greg McIntyre: If?
Brenton Begley: so you’re putting your reputation, your intelligence, your, your license on the line,
whenever you’re advocating for a client. Let’s say I put together a good legal brief, a tight, pleading where I, you know, have this argument out there, I’ve done my legal research, I’ve put it there and submit to the court. The other side has the chance to respond and what their total goal is to pick whatever I said apart and prove their legal argument, and it could be a very scary thing. What if you miss something What if you know you didn’t do the research like you should have wished. What if you didn’t read the cases as in depth and they’re able to distinguish those cases from what, you know, the fact that you’re dealing with and so, you know, when you get their reply where you get their legal brief or whatever, A lot of people think that
attorneys just look at that and… it’s ready to rent it apart. But in fact, what you find is, is actually a very scary thing to
see someone else’s reply or their initial pleading, because you have to go through that and face all the
issues that are gonna raise because they their job is to, to strengthen their case as much as possible. So
they’re gonna raise all of these issues and pain a picture to the court, why you’re incredibly totally wrong.
There’s nothing that you said that’s correct. And why they’re exactly right and everything that they are
seeing is correct. So it raised a lot issues that you…then have to respond to you have to respond to every point if you want to win. and so, what that forces you to do, if you’re able to conquer, the fear is dig in Look at every point and Try to pick it apart and what are you? An initial human reaction is going to be is I want to deal with this. This is something that’s very scary to me because it rains, all these issues that I’m gonna have to go.
Brenton Begley: I’m gonna have to research, I’m gonna have to deal with, and I’d rather just put it off. I’d
rather not have to do it. And you might even tell yourself, Hey, I’m in a handle this, but it’s gonna be at a
later date, but to really jump all over that thing really absorb their argument, Understand it take it apart, is
that leads you to actually winning a case, The best attorneys are able to look at the other sides argument.
Really go through the details and figure that out. And here is why that is a microcosm for life because
I’ve said across the table from thousands of people, doing a state planning. And what I
can tell you is that there is a resistance to jumping in digging into the details for a lot of
people because it’s a scary thing. You raise the issue of long-term care that 70% or more individuals who
make it past the age of 65 are gonna need long-term care. That’s an incredibly important detail that a lot
of people don’t want to deal with, it’s an incredibly important detail that hey, long-term care costing where five, 10 15,000 a month for an individual and the average days from between four to seven years, that’s it, very important detail. A lot of people don’t want to deal with. A lot of people don’t want to deal with the fact that we all die that we’re not gonna be around. A lot of people don’t want to deal with the fact that maybe they want to leave something to their children but their children, you know, their child, that’s married to somebody that they don’t trust, maybe some other family issues like that. Maybe they don’t want to deal with the fact that you may need to make a plan at all.
Brenton Begley: You know, a lot of people walk in and I hear this all the time, I think it’s funny. They say,
Oh well we don’t have much and I started asking questions about their assets and they say, Oh well, we
have a house, we have rental house, We have a couple of life, insurance policies, a couple of vehicles and
like you have a lot. But you can hear that defensiveness in their voice and it’s not an offensive saying, Oh I don’t think I need a plan. It’s I don’t want to have to go through the details to do it because it’s a scary
thing to consider what’s gonna happen after I pass away what’s gonna happen. If I mean long term care,
what if I becoming confident need someone to step in and help make decisions under power attorney,
things like that, but just like in the work that we do every day is litigators. If you can walk somebody through that process, my God, if you can dig into the details and really hammer those out, then you are prepared. And you do get what we call peace of mind, which is not something that, you know, you have until you have it, it’s this, it’s this, you know, it’s your subconscious feeling a sense of peace. That you didn’t know you could feel you didn’t, you don’t know that you have as an anxiety going on, the back, your head, you know? But when you lay out that plan, when you go through the case and you’re able to develop a good argument, you walk in the court, very calm. Very tranquil. If you plan for your life your assets and what might happen in the future, you're gonna go through the rest of your life calm and tranquil.
Greg McIntyre: very well put.
Brenton Begley: Thank you.
Greg McIntyre: you’re hired, okay? And you have represented me on things before. I appreciate that. Yeah,
so, you know what? I would say in summary to our listeners, you just got a very good recap of what
goes on. In a litigation case. How much the attorney who’s very knowledgeable.
Greg McIntyre: And experienced in to respond to your arguments and relating to estate state planning,
how that relates to a fear of really getting down in the details of facing your fears pushing through those.
The way you do that is to face your fears dig in, look at the details and then it’s not so scary anymore. So
also we can help with that. And that’s what we do.
Greg McIntyre: So we will help dig in for you. And with you as professionals, whether you have a
litigation case regarding a Will Trust Insurance real estate, you know, one of those issues around estate
planning your own. Or you need to really help, you know, get with the professional, like us to dig, into the
details and help formulate the best, the state plan to get you to a state of peace of mind, we’d be glad to
help.
Greg McIntyre: And as right and as always, you know, we would offer a free consult. So to sit down with
you and your family and discuss those issues, you can schedule that free consult by calling one eight
eight nine. Nine nine sixty six hundred or go go online to our website. Click the Schedule Free Console
button and you can schedule right online at mcelderlaw.com and thank you Attorney Begley for being
here.
Brenton Begley: Oh yeah, one last thing I’d like to say is that you know, that console just give you some
expectation of what that looks like. We’re gonna sit down with you and we’re gonna ask good questions.
So it’s gonna be an easy process to go through the details. We know what details need to be gone
through. We’re gonna ask the right questions. We’re gonna explain it and it’s going to allow you to be
guided through that. What’s is a seemingly hard process in a very easy way and… come out with a solution that you know, is going to work for you and your family.
Greg McIntyre: it’s amazing how much we can pick out and when because we know the cause we know
what we need, all we need for you is to bring yourself and any estate planning documents. You may
currently have for review and through that process. It is unreal how quickly we can get those things together and really,
really see a great plan for you and your family. So thank you Attorney Begley and everyone will be back
next week with the next Elder Law report.
Greg McIntyre
Estate Planning & Elder Law Attorney
