Estate, Trust & Elder Financial Abuse Litigation | The Fighting Spirit

The Wall Street Journal’s article “The Secrets of Resilience” is full of observations worth sharing. The article explores the patterns that shed light on how some people’s struggles to overcome life’s adversities presage their later success. The article captures the resilient spirit in stories of some notable Americans, among them Eleanor Roosevelt, Oprah Winfrey and Louis Armstrong.

Resilience exists across cultures and societies. Its stories animate us in times of great challenge. Winston Churchill, depicted in the Darkest Hour, epitomizes the resilient spirit. The movie ends with a quote attributed to Churchill. Whether Churchill said the words or not they capture the virtue’s potent meaning: “Success is not final; failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that matters.”

The practice of law calls for resilience. Our efforts on behalf of our clients are continually challenged. I often say that people do not come to us with the easy cases? Why would they? We fight for elders and their families who have been subjected to elder financial abuse. We fight for trust beneficiaries and estate heirs who have been disinherited by the wrongful acts of others who used undue influence or fraud against vulnerable seniors. Again, we say we fight. Wrongdoers do not easily relinquish that which they have wrongfully taken.

There are psychological studies referenced in the WSJ article that found that those who have “known some adversity are both higher-functioning and more satisfied with their lives than those who had experienced extremely high levels of hardship – and compared to those who had experienced no adversity at all.” We have certainly experienced at the least – “some adversity.”

The simple truth is that when challenged, it is important that we “own the fighter within.” This is something that resonates with me. Even at times facing defeat the fighting spirit remains. In the words of Paul Simon’s The Boxer:

In the clearing stands a boxer, and a fighter by this trade

And he carries the reminders of every glove that him down or cut him

‘Til he cried out in his anger and his shame

I am leaving, I am leaving, but the fighter still remains.

Not every estate dispute needs a fighter. I get it and I believe that reasoned compromise is gratifying. That said, such compromise is often at the end of a process – not at its beginning. We are engaged in major estate, trust and elder financial abuse battles in more than 20 of California’s largest urban counties – including Los Angeles, San Diego, Riverside, Alameda and Sacramento. So, if you need a fighter in your estate, trust, or elder financial abuse case and you want to talk with us about it – call us at 916 313-3030. We’ll be happy to see how we can help you.